Did you know that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by the second week of February? If you don’t want to contribute to that number, it’s time to get serious about the goals you’d like to accomplish in 2019. Developing a marketing plan should be at the top of your to-do list.

In this special “New Year’s Eve” episode of Stay Paid, Luke and Josh discuss the importance of a focused marketing budget, while offering some suggestions for reaching the audience you really want.

Key points:

• Your marketing plan ties all your tasks to a tangible goal.
• Get people invested in your success.
• Know your audience, and go where they are.

Working toward a tangible goal.

Why do you need a marketing plan? In short, it’s because a marketing plan eliminates surprises and focuses your efforts on a tangible goal. Regardless of your financial ambitions, not having a plan to achieve them leaves your business at risk. Marketing decisions should be informed by research, past performance, and a carefully calculated budget.

A marketing plan will reveal new opportunities or the need for new opportunities. It also enables you to be more strategic throughout the year, by outlining the cost and projected results, which you can measure against actual performance.

Ask yourself, “What did I do today? Did it really help the ball move down the field?”

Getting people invested in your success.

As with any other New Year’s resolution, you’ll be more effective if you let other people know what your intentions are. Informing people of your intentions make you more accountable, which means you’ll be more likely to follow through, to avoid the embarrassment of not doing so.

At the beginning of the year, call or text everyone in your phone. Make sure they know what you’re looking to accomplish this year with your business. Check in with your list regularly and see how they are doing with their goals. These people will feel invested in your success and be more likely to recommend you if someone is looking for the services you provide.

Going where your audience is.

What is the audience you want to work with? What are their priorities and interests? Where do they hang out? What Facebook pages and online groups do they visit? Finally, what tools are available to help you reach your audience?

These are just a few of the questions you should be asking when you’re setting your marketing budget. You’ll need to allocate funds for your ad budget, promotional items, etc.

For example, if you’ve decided that hipsters are your audience, you’d start by brainstorming ways to reach them both online and offline. One way to do this is to possibly run ads targeting people who may be interested in local coffee shops, craft beer breweries, and bands like Mumford & Sons. You might also hang or hand out flyers at local coffee shops, or run an event at one.

Encourage follow-up. At events, have a “sticky asset” that your prospects can take away with them. This could be a tote bag, a coffee mug, or something else that’s useful. When you run ads online, direct leads to a landing page or listing, so that you can determine how effective the ad was.

Use Google trends to see what people are searching for in your area. Make your website speak to people in the demographic. These are just a few of the ways that you can tailor your experience to your audience.

Action items:

• Write down your unique value proposition, who your audience is, and your goals.
• Reverse engineer how to achieve those goals.

Additional resources:

• Leads calculator
• How to Find Success in 2019 with Your Marketing
• Real Estate Playbook