What are the elements of a good marketing plan?
There are many good books on writing and implementing marketing plans and reading everything you can on the subject is a good idea. The ideas presented here will work and you will get results providing the service you are offering is one in demand. Remember, if the audience does not want the service, an executable marketing plan will not fix the “no clients” problem. Test your market by finding out if they need your service rather than just want it. Once you have determined there is a need then any plan you put together will have a better chance of succeeding.
There are 8 steps to the marketing plan for consultants. Each of the steps will lead you to the next step. Do not skip any of the steps as you will not build the foundation for your marketing plan.
Step one: Examine your offering and write down all the features, benefits, and solutions it provides. Include a value statement from the customers’ eyes.
Step two: Describe your consulting firm and why you are offering this service. Be specific, generalizations will not help your cause. If you are a management consultant then add detail on what type of management consultant you are, leave no stone unturned.
Step three: Describe in detail who will buy your service.
Step four: List all of the tools you want to use for your marketing campaigns. Include a description of how the tool will be used to gain clients and how you will track the success for each tool. Include what reaction you expect to get from the client (response rate).
Step five: Assign dollars to each of the tools you wish to use. Then prioritize the items to best fit what you can afford.
Step six: Prepare a calendar around each item and include dates for preparation time for creating any artwork, content, and booking any outside sources.
Step seven: Integrate your marketing calendar into your daily work schedule. Make sure you include plans to follow-up on any marketing you do. Diarize everything or else it will not happen.
Step eight: Execute your plan according to the schedule you have set up.
This plan is very simple in nature but will give you enough details to create a marketing campaign that will bring clients to your door. Remember you do not want to spend time sitting by your phone waiting for it to ring. Make it ring through a well executed plan and using the appropriate tools.
