You can use a Strategic Marketing Plan to plan ahead for growth.
When you can follow a Marketing plan confidently, you might enjoy a business that will flourish all year. You can do this by applying a few principles, borrowed from gardening, to the implementation of your strategic marketing plan.
Principles borrowed from gardening to achieve year-round growth
Follow a clear plan:
Firstly, you should have a clear idea of your goal and make a plan to achieve it. A strong marketing plan will rid your business of its inefficiencies as I describe HERE.
If you don’t have a planning system in place I recommend making use of Emma Langridge’s system. Look at her practical approach to an annual review here.
Variety
It is helpful to plan ahead to rotate your output.
Secondly, a mix of plant types will bring colour for each season. Most businesses offer a portfolio of products which can be rotated throughout the year, according to their immediate relevance to your customers.
Adapt your activity by season
Winter: Plant bulbs.
You can plan ahead when conditions are harsh by planting bulbs. In business this means that you should identify leads throughout the year which can be developed in rotation, slowly.
Spring: Enjoy the blooms from your planning
Spring is the time to enjoy the appearance of flowers from bulbs planted months ago. For example, enjoy nurturing those leads that you planted in winter. You can share the joy of your successes with others, too.
Summer: Assess your achievement
Mid-year is when you hope to see that your plan is delivering your goal. An attractive, colourful garden, or a healthy business with a variety of healthy products. At this point you can make adaptations to maximise the outcome.
For example, you can prune evergreens for added structure. Evergreens are an important consideration for giving structure all year round. In business these are your reliable, priority core clients around whom others should be fitted. You might discover powerful benefits that stem from catering for the needs of a special client. Mid-year is an opportunity for you to take some action that will keep you on track for the rest of the year.
Autumn: Dig into your performance
Autumn is the season for you to dig into your performance, identify what has worked well or badly? And conserve your energy by ridding your business of any unproductive features. Keep energy for preparing for over-wintering.
If you apply these gardening principles while you implement a strategic marketing plan you will not be anxious about how your next sale might appear. Look out of the window to remind yourself of your latest marketing action.