In this training, I will introduce ways you can manage your marketing activities. There are methods and some documents that will help you stay in control. You have come this far but it is important that you do not lose momentum. It is like starting any project, it is always exciting at the start, but after a while this excitement wains and starts to become a chore. If there is one thing that I want you to take out of this training is this, Marketing is not just ideas and creativity, it is procedures and structures.
The processes of Marketing
Whenever we start a new client at Assertive Marketing the first thing we do is have weekly meetings. This allows us to work with you and do all the things that are needed to get the marketing up and running. Everything that we have done in our training so far has been following the methods that we follow with all our clients. After the planning is done then we need to look at the activity and management of marketing. Treat it like you now have a marketing department. The principle behind this is that you will learn the discipline of marketing. I have many clients who say, “do we have to meet every week, I don’t have time for marketing”. My answer is always the same. “Yes, we do!”. The point of having these meetings it is to get you into the habit of marketing. To get you to take a little time each week to think about your marketing. If we can start with one hour per week, then after a few months you will continue to allocate that time for your marketing.
The discipline of Marketing
This is what will and does happen. Let’s say we have a meeting at 10:00 on Wednesday morning every week for about 8 to 12 weeks. What will happen is that every time you approach the meetings there are certain things that you will think about and do before, during and after the meetings. You may have to prepare something for the meeting or do something during or after the meeting. As the weeks go by this habit will form and you will automatically keep doing it. This is what I call the discipline of marketing. You create a discipline that forces you to act and do certain things. Then you keep doing them. Now you keep the momentum and the good marketing that your business deserves.
Enforcing the discipline
This discipline that you are now involved in will help you to keep the marketing going. It now needs some physical aids to help you stay on track. The way that I enforce the discipline is to work with these meeting times and I have also introduced some documents that keep you on track. There are 2 main documents that I will always use, and they are the Marketing Action Plan and the Marketing Action Calendar. By working with these documents, you can make sure that everything is done and followed through.