Many businesses approach marketing on a case-by-case basis and never realize the added advantage a marketing plan could give them. A marketing plan compiles all of the planned advertising and marketing initiatives for a certain length of time – usually a year or a quarter. Advanced planning can help you market more efficiently for several reasons. One reason is that a marketing plan keeps you on budget. It’s easy to overspend when you view your marketing as one as here and one ad there. You aren’t looking at the total cost. A marketing plan will give you the big picture, so you know exactly how much money is being spent in a given period of time.
A marketing plan will save you time, and it will also save your agency's time, which saves you money. You save time because all of your major decisions are all made at once instead of in bits and pieces as the year progresses. You also save your agency valuable administration time, since they don’t have to hunt you down every time there is an advertising opportunity they think is appropriate for you.
The most important reason to have a marketing plan is that it makes your efforts more effective. Ad placements can be coordinated in a more timely and relevant manner. Your message will be getting to your clients more consistently and with more targeted placements.
Contact your account manager (Erin, Jen or Stefanie) if you would like to streamline your efforts with a marketing plan or review your current plan to ensure that it is working for you.