Marketing is a fundamental component of business success. If you don’t sell your brand and your wares, you’re unlikely to generate the revenues you need. Marketing comes quite easily to some and can be a challenge to others. But even for those people who find marketing a natural activity, there is always a methodology that predicates achieving goals. With MSP marketing, mapping out your approach is crucial to your sales success.
Set Your Objectives
Know where you want to be headed. You already know where you are, so having your targets defined, you can then figure out how to get from A to B. Make sure your objectives are quantifiable. You need to end up with numbers against which you can measure success objectively. Over time, by comparing the input numbers (costs, headcount, time, etc.,) to the output numbers (leads generated, pitches presented, sales won, revenues increased), you’ll see very clearly what works and even why it works.
Establish Your Route
Remember, failing to plan is planning to fail. If you need food, you don’t simply head out the door with no idea where you’re going or how you’re going to get there. Similarly, to win with your marketing, you need to establish the objectives of your marketing and then plan the route you’ll ‘drive’ to get to those objectives.
Don’t Expect Perfection
Some of us can find it hard to draw up a strategy because we’re not sure what the best strategy might be. Aiming for the perfect plan can leave us unable even to get started on that road to marketing wins. It is important not to set your bar so high you expect perfection. Start by mapping out the overall journey. Once that’s done, you can refine your approach.
If you’ve carried out past MSP marketing projects, you’ll have some experience, feedback, and data points to help you get started. With each further marketing program, experience, knowledge, and data will grow, helping to establish momentum for future marketing initiatives.
Plan for Perfection but be Prepared for Changes
Sure, we just agreed not to expect perfection, but we can still plan as if we’ll achieve perfection. Just don’t let your marketing strategy get mired in an inability to change course if needed. If you’ve identified the restaurant you want to visit to get food and you know how to get there but an accident has blocked one intersection, do you simply give up and go home hungry? No, you find a way around the challenge. You had a plan and you adapted it as things changed.
Start Driving Your Route
Your objectives are defined, your map is laid out. It’s time to start driving down the road to MSP marketing success. And remember— the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. If you have to detour, so be it, but just find a way back to your chosen route and on the way to your objectives.
