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Marketing Planning: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Yeah, I know it is winter. It hasn’t escaped me that snow is on the ground and any plants that were green 2 weeks ago are now long since past needing water.
But, seriously, where have all the flowers gone?
Every summer I have flowers in the front yard. I spend hours planting and caring for my colorful front yard. There are annuals, perennials and landscape grasses, trees and bushes. But this past summer was different.
I didn’t do my usual planning. The flower pots remained empty and the yard didn’t have the usual flair.
And, while this poor planning for a single season didn’t do anything to hurt a long-term outcome for the landscape, this lack of marketing planning in my business had a decidedly different result.
At the end of 2007 I didn’t do any marketing planning for 2008 and by the end of the year it REALLY showed! Things were different in 2009 but I didn’t do any marketing planning that would have accommodated the crash we all experienced.
Ouch!
Thankfully, I learn from that. And thankfully, the experience has left me wiser – and not broke.
So this year I spent several hours mapping out 2010. I developed a 3 ring binder that allows me track my plans and my results for the year. AND, included in this marketing planning was enough diversification to accommodate most market changes and fluctuations.
It also includes strategies to grow my company, the assets, and a way to take care of that growth. I finally learned my lesson to incorporate marketing planning to achieve success.
I heard it year after year; I watched others do it and become wildly successful – but I never REALLY understood how important it was.
From a medical standpoint I have watched others refuse to make changes in their lifestyle choices until they suffered the consequences. Somehow I thought I was different! I make excellent lifestyle choices – just didn’t make good marketing planning choices until I suffered the consequences.
. . . so if you are so inclined, learn from my mistakes.
It isn’t too late. In fact, it’s never too late in the year to sit down, evaluate your goals and do some solid marketing planning.
Take advice from Nike and Just Do It!
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