Nigel Wilkinson
Managing Director of Daneswood. Nigel has been in sales and marketing since the 1980's and run digital marketing agencies since 2000.
Early in my career, I was taught a helpful mnemonic regarding the importance of planning, “Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance”, the slightly ruder version has an extra P in there, but I’ll leave you to work that out!
Anyhow, we all know that if you take time to work out in advance what your objectives are, what the strategy is, and then cascade down to what your tactics are, then you have a much better chance of success than flying by the seat of your pants.
Now, there are some, and I used to be one, that would argue that the pressure and adrenaline of “Just In Time” meant that performance was heightened. Experience and occasional failures finally taught me that putting in the groundwork ahead of the event meant that any ad-libs were a bonus, not required to cover up any failings in preparation.
The bigger and more complex your organisation, the more important preparation and planning becomes. Winging it might work when it’s just you, but if you have 3-4 people heading off in different directions, then your marketing becomes disjointed and can fall apart pretty quickly.
That’s all very well I hear you say, but do the stats agree? Well, I’m glad you asked because, yes, they do. Well, the ones I’ve chosen to use do!
- Companies with a documented marketing strategy are 313% more likely to be successful. (Source: CoSchedule)
- Businesses that plan their marketing campaigns in advance are 356% more likely to report higher ROI. (Source: Adobe)
- 67% of high-performing marketers have a documented content marketing strategy. (Source: Content Marketing Institute)
- Marketers who set goals are 429% more likely to report success than those who don’t. (Source: CoSchedule)
- Businesses that plan their content 2-3 months ahead are 33% more likely to see positive ROI. (Source: CoSchedule)
Now, these stats are very persuasive and emphasise the significant impact that advance marketing planning can have on a business’s performance and success in marketing themselves. But planning months in advance is tricky for a small or medium-sized business, where firefighting is often the order of the day.
But when time and resources are limited, that’s when the planning can be most effective in creating those small differences that impact the bottom line most. If all your competitors start planning their New Year sales material on the 4th of January, you can gain a significant advantage by having the structure in place in the autumn, ready to focus on tactics come January. Hit the ground running and be the early bird that gets the worm.
The further ahead you plan, the easier it becomes. Now, it will depend on your sector and marketplace and how early you plan. E.g. For some businesses, planning Christmas is likely happening now or even next month. That said, if you are in hospitality and hadn’t got your Christmas Menu out by the end of August, you missed the boat (and yes, I am thinking of somewhere specific, locally to us, who missed out this year!)
In our next blog, we will look more at how you structure your planning, but in the meantime, to get you ahead of your competitors, here’s a link to our 2024 Marketing Calendar (plus a few other resources). https://daneswood.co.uk/resources/ It’s free, and you don’t have to give your contact details.
It lists all the major events and holidays (UK) plus lots of the fun “days” like Talk Like a Pirate Day, which you can build fun events around for social media. With spaces for you to add notes and To Do’s you can see what events are coming up and work backwards to plan what actions you need to do, well in advance.
Happy marketing!