YOUR LOGO Or BUSINESS NAME HERE

YOUR LOGO or BUSINESS NAME HERE

Marketing Communications Plan Draft

Month and Year

For your edification: A marketing plan is simply a well thought out approach to how you’ll market your business. Your goal is to fill your pipeline and serve your clients, not labor over and stress out on writing a marketing dissertation.

The last thing you want to do is create a distraction or become a victim of analysis paralysis. Although we’ll delve a little deeper here, you could literally create a marketing plan with three headings: Who; What and How. Don’t overthink it.

Go with your gut and some basic research. Do what works (then, do what works again and again) and ditch what doesn’t - marketing isn’t the same in every market for every coach, speaker or trainer. Yes, there are some fundamental similarities, of course - and remember - your plan has to represent YOU! Your message! Your value! Your divine inspiration and gifts!

Get some ideas on paper now, let your marketing plan become a living, breathing document that you’ll adjust as you find your stride, get feedback and course correct. Expect to course correct, make that part of your plan. Start with a one page plan and expand it as you gain confidence. One page is fine for now, just get started, you can do this! Remember when you get stuck, say this. “I don’t know. But, if I did know, what would the answer be?” Remember, good leaders ask great questions and we only get answers to the questions we ask! Ask yourself great questions!

The best marketers are always listening and learning from the market and applying those lessons back into their business. Your mantras: #BuildTheBusiness #ServeTheClient #AddValueDaily #GrowPersonallyEveryDay #AskQuestions

You can modify the plan below or use the outline on the last page to build your own marketing plan and your path to success in business!

Goal Statement

Remember what John teaches: All’s well that begins well. Make a statement of your goal here, begin with the end in mind. Write your plan with a one year approach.

In one to three goal sentences write your goal, answer the question, “what does success look like to me?”

Example: When I’m successful as a coach, speaker trainer, this is what I see: I’m teaching two free masterminds weekly - those masterminds are proving my value, building goodwill and testimonials and funneling into my monthly coaching program. I have 24 paying coaching clients and I am earning $13,128 monthly from coaching alone. The masterminds also feed my monthly full day workshop on The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. I give two courtesy speeches and two paid speeches each month. I also spend time on personal growth, learning from my mentors and from the Online Platform, where I invest at least 90 minutes daily.

Objectives:Key Performance Indicators

Make your objectives measurable. Keep in mind SMART objectives are Strategic; Measurable; Attainable; Relevant and Timebound

●Client Growth: Add # new coaching clients by (date)

●Launch free 21 Laws Mastermind with (# of participants) by (date)

●Launch paid Everyone Communicates Few Connect (or other subject/topic) by (date) with (# of participants) by (date)

●Using strategic PR tactics, obtain one story each in the following local media outlets: (your local or regional media: newspapers; magazines; blogs; websites; television; radio, etc) by (date)

●One leadership thought leader guest blog by (date) - get very specific and name the thought leaders here!

●Add more measurable objectives here

Competitors:Who’s already successful in your space?

Answer these questions:

Who are they serving in your market? Why are they successful? What could they do better? How may I differentiate myself and my offerings from them?

Message: Frame the Key Messages

(This begins your positioning and supports your intrinsic value)

Certified by John Maxwell, the most recognized and celebrated leadership authority in history

Member of the largest and fastest growing leadership and entrepreneur certification program in the world

My business adds value, focuses on and makes others stronger

My business delivers growth through connection and action

Businesses focused on leadership are more successful

Serving others leads to ultimate success

Leadership is a key currency in small business growth and expansion

Edit the above points and add more key message points relevant to you… (I serve independent restaurant owners; I serve the professional insurance community; I’m dedicated to the pet grooming community, etc.)

Market:Audiences

Internal:Clients; Business Partners; Employees – add more

External:Potential Clients; Potential Sponsors; Competitors – add more

Go even deeper with your audiences, particularly potential clients and potential sponsors. For example, you might be in the health practitioner space. Perhaps you serve medical practices with 10 or fewer doctors in the Pacific Northwest only. Be specific. If you serve men or women only, be specific. Youth? Be specific - ages 10-13? Up to age 19? You can hit a target that you can see and you get to the target by identifying it.

Media:Also called Channels

There are three types of media: Earned, Owned and Paid. Earned Media is when you get mentioned or get an opportunity to be in the media (social, blogs, magazines, newspaper, radio, television, etc.) Owned Media is your own website, newsletter, email and social platforms. Paid Media is advertising and promotion you pay for: radio, newspaper, flyers, direct mail. You want to use a combination of Earned, Owned and Paid: old school “traditional” and new school platforms.

Write one to three sentences here:

I’ll build an audience and paying client base using direct mail, scripted telephone calls and an active behavior based email system, in addition to podcasts, blogging and these social platforms…

Keep in mind today’s strategic marketers use sophisticated social and analytics tools to:

1)Help attract and engage potential clients

2)Help retain current clients and get them to spend more

3)Help measure marketing effectiveness

You want to measure everything. Everything. Nothing goes in without establishing a baseline - that way you know when you’ve had success! So, you start with zero clients? Then ONE client is a 100% increase! Measure that. Measure how many people are on your social channels at the start and after a campaign to drive followers. Measure how many people take advantage of a free mastermind when you send out 200 letters/flyers. Measure your email list. You get it. Measure everything.

Considerations, thoughts to address

●4S approach to social engagement/selling: 1) Serve; 2) Serve, 3) Serve, 4) Serve, 5) Sell. 4:1 ratio

The section below is the tactical / calendar section, the “What, by When, by Who - and - how much will you spend.” We’ve added some tactical ideas here as a brainstorm. Remember to be SMART: Strategic; Measurable; Attainable; Relevant and Timebound. Add your Objectives into the Tactics section and measure your success against your stated, measurable objectives.

Tactics:

Channels / Tactics (What you’ll actually do) / Budget / Completion Date
Owned Media: Website / Update and personalizemy JohnMaxwellGroup.com website
Owned Media: Website / Link all my web 2.0 (social/interactive) channels to my other website: Facebook Profile; Twitter Account; Blog; Podcasted testimonials; YouTube Channel
Owned Media: Website / Put an opt in form on my site witha compelling special opt-in offer
Owned Media: / Build a professional Facebook page so I can target market on Facebook just like the John Maxwell Team
Owned Media: / Add your ideas here (think Twitter; YouTube; Podcast; Newsletter; Email)
Owned Media: / I’ll use Pinterest and Instagram to repurpose memes and other content I’ll swipe and deploy from the John Maxwell Team
Owned Media: / Add your ideas here
Owned/Paid Media: / Direct mail is a smart investment. When done right, it gets opened and gets attention.
Owned/Paid Media: / Add your ideas here
Owned/Paid Media: / Conduct a leadership survey in my community and among my marketplace (dog groomers, real estate, restaurant owners, etc). The survey results can be used as a news release tool
Earned Media: / I’ll reach out to the media in my community/marketplace assigned to leadership issues to offer a hand when they need a leadership expert. I’ll send them something as often as appropriate (monthly) and cultivate a genuine relationship with them.
Earned Media: / News releases: To build legacy, you need OTHER people talking about you for third party credibility, validation, i.e., social proof. One important way to get there is through strategic use of news releases.
Earned Media: / Survey: I’ll use the results of my leadership survey to create a news release to targeted media
Earned Media: / Build relationships with my local media
Earned Media: / I’ll start participating in two tweet chats weekly and on (name of social influencer in your space) social platforms
Earned Media: / Add your ideas here
Paid Media: / Newspaper advertising
Paid Media: / Add your ideas here
Add your ideas here

Wrapping it up: Marketing is a structured path to meet your goal. It’s a system. Marketing is math and psychology. The math part is simple: Did I make more money than I spent? The psychology part is even easier: Did it work?

With a structured path, a system - you identify your targets - focus your efforts and measure your results.

Remember to do what works (then, do what works again and again) and ditch what doesn’t. Don’t waste time or resources, go for the low hanging fruit first, get some wins and confidence. You’ll build credibility as you do!

If you’ve done the task of building your marketing plan, congratulations, you’re on your way! If you haven’t, get your confidence on, ask “If I did know the answer, what would it be?” and get it done. You can write this plan in two hours!

You can modify the plan above or use the outline here to build your own marketing plan and your path to success in business!

Full plan outline: