 The year is almost over. For businesses and organizations, this means brainstorming new ideas for 2021. Before you jump into planning, I suggest you do a little thinking. When you THINK strategically, you ask yourself questions, and questions lead to ideas, solutions, and innovation. Take some time to reflect on the four key questions outlined below. These questions will help you examine and critique your marketing plan while allowing new ideas and strategies to emerge. Let's get started!
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 In the spring of 2019, I was taking a much-needed hike with a good friend and I was going on about how I felt like nothing was going right for me. Even though I had just completed the 28 Day Marketing Challenge program with rave reviews and launched the Women Entrepreneurs Circle—not to mention my daughter was crazy fun—I was still feeling as though I was falling down a dark hole with no end in sight. I told her that this feeling of uncertainty and instability sparked anxiety and somehow managed to crush my self-confidence. Though I was doing so many great things and living a seemingly awesome life, I felt things were spiraling out of control and I was headed towards a slow doom.
 Businesses and nonprofits often ask me what they should focus on when it comes to marketing. That’s a great question; how you spend your time and energy is very important--but what goals and tasks should you prioritize?
The answer depends on where you are in your marketing business, the size of your company or organization, who your target market is, and what you are selling. ALL of these factors have to be taken into consideration when figuring out your marketing plan. However, no matter what size you are, no matter what you sell or who your market is, there is one VITAL component that can make or break your marketing efforts and investment. You can have the best marketing channels and a huge budget, but if this ONE component is missing, your marketing strategies will fail.  Here we are, the day before Thanksgiving, and on the cusp of the holiday season. During this time of year, I recommend businesses and nonprofits increase their communications. A well-crafted message, sent at just the right time, provides tremendous value to your community. Take a look at my earlier blog on discovering what’s valuable to your audience.
In my last post, I told you about 3 strategies you’ll need to execute to end the year on a high note. Today, I’ll tell you how to implement a successful fourth-quarter email campaign.  How are you feeling about your business or organization’s progress this year? If you haven't hit your revenue and growth goals, then I'd like to recommend a few key strategies you can implement right away to end your year on the right foot.
The three strategies are referrals, emails, and events. Let’s focus first on referrals...  We’ve all had down days. Days where it’s hard to get motivated; days where you just can't seem to get anything done. As luck would have it, your motivation often starts drying up right around the time something big is scheduled to happen at work or in your business. You’re launching a new program or your nonprofit has a huge capital campaign coming up...but, life is overwhelming you. Your child is sick, there are troubles at home, you were in a car accident, or a family member is struggling financially.
 In our current economy, many old rules of marketing no longer apply. I’m constantly surprised to see businesses and organizations doing things the old way, but I don’t blame them as these outdated principles are still taught in college classrooms across the country.
Today, I’m going to outline how to stand out in today’s economy. These are the top four things you should STOP doing in order to elevate your marketing efforts...  Even though we’re well into the year’s fourth quarter, it’s never too late to do some creative marketing. A great strategy for getting organized is making a marketing schedule.
You’re likely implementing several different marketing strategies, from social media updates to emails and press releases. Writing down all that needs to happen and when it should happen will make it much easier to stay consistent and results-oriented.  Reviewing your life plan is an extremely valuable practice. Oftentimes, you don't really know if something is working or not until you step back and analyze it. Even if you don't have anything written down, you can still reap the benefits of reviewing what you've done. Here are five reasons why reviewing and revising is vital to creating and maintaining success while obtaining big results...
 I learned the hard way that things don’t always go exactly as planned. I am a planner and I love making plans...business plans, meditation plans, even plans on how to clean and organize my closet!
Over the years, I’ve learned to embrace and celebrate my accomplishments, even if they didn’t go according to plan. Planning is VERY important, no matter the outcome, and it is my NUMBER ONE time-saving strategy. |
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Copyright © 2019| Firefly Strategies. All rights reserved. | photos by Genevieve Russell of storyportraitmedia.com
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