Seven common pitfalls you can avoid
Developing a marketing plan is an essential part of starting a business. Without a solid strategy to market your business, you won’t be able to attract new prospects or build customer loyalty.
However, planning your marketing strategies comes with many challenges. Even with the best ideas and intentions, there are still aspects of your plans that could go wrong. Below, seven members of the Forbes Agency Council share some of the ways entrepreneurs creating a marketing plan can run into trouble, as well as how they can avoid trouble. Here is what they said:
Photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Not getting the right market information
When you don’t have enough knowledge of the market or the right knowledge, the plan is based on a vague view of the market you’re trying to reach and doesn’t go far enough. Start by understanding your customers. Accompany to sales meetings; hear the challenges of the market first-hand on the ground. This insight into what drives customers to buy from your business will allow you to develop a marketing plan to increase sales. – Alisha Lyndon, MomentumABM
2. Underestimating your timeline
Deadlines are always underestimated. I create “false deadlines” for me and my team so that we always have the client deliverables ready well in advance and are over-prepared for the unknowns. – Kim Lawton, Enthusiast Marketing
3. Create your marketing plan before you have your MVP
A common pitfall in developing a marketing plan involves the timeline of the plan itself. Many startups and entrepreneurs are too focused on their go-to-market marketing strategy until they have defined a profitable minimum viable product to share with the world. Extensive research must be done not only to identify a winning idea, but also an idea strong enough to drive customers away from competitors. – Tara Carter, Tangelo, LLC
4. Not matching your marketing channels to your audience’s preferences
The one aspect you want to be crystal clear about is your audience. Who are they? What motivates them? What problems are they facing? Having a thorough understanding of your target demographic helps you focus your message and decide which channels to target. – Nishank Khanna, request roll
5. Losing sight of your overall goal
Too often, marketers are stunned by hyped tactics. Losing sight of the goal is the one thing that often goes wrong with any marketing plan. A clever idea does not make a marketing plan. Another thing that can go wrong is trying to solve too many problems with one marketing plan. Be very clear about your audience and your defined goals, and you will avoid this faux pas. – Danica Kombol, Everywhere Agency
6. Overestimating sales
On the one hand, it is good to aim for the best possible results. On the other hand, it is also crucial to be realistic in your sales forecasts. If you are too sure to sell a certain product or service, you risk spending too much budget for less margins than expected. – Alessandro Bogliari, The Influencer Marketing Factory
Read more in How to Apply Best Practices to Planning Your Marketing Budget
7. Execution of the plan
Coming up with ideas is great and exciting, but making sure you have the time and resources to execute them is half the battle. I’ve been involved with several companies and we walk away from marketing meetings with amazing ideas, but when it comes to execution, sometimes it’s hard to find the right resources to make everything run smoothly. -Blake George, BMG Media
