Creating a marketing plan can be a daunting task, but it's important to have one if you want your small business to succeed. The thing is, many small business owners avoid creating a marketing plan because they are intimidated by it, scared they will do it wrong, or worried that their marketing plan won't actually work. But (but, but, but), if you follow these simple steps, you can create a marketing plan that will help your small business grow!

Define your marketing goals and objectives

The first step you need to take is probably the easiest—you need to determine your marketing goals. And don't overthink this part! These goals can be more aspirational and capture what you want to achieve from more of a 30,000 foot view. For example, do you want to make your brand more recognizable? Do you want to get better leads? Or do you want to launch a new product or service?

After you've defined your goals, the next step is to get more specific about what it's going to take to reach them. And this is where you define your objectives. Because, while your marketing goals can be a bit more generic, your objectives should be more specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (you know, SMART) because this helps you set your KPIs (key performance indicators). Think of it this way: a goal like "make my brand more recognizable " is great when paired with an objective like "grow my social media following" because then you can set measurable KPIs. Want to take it even further with a specific target? A good example would be "increase my following on Instagram by 10% in 2 months." TheseKPIs will help you track your progress, but more on that in a bit.

Pick your marketing channels

The next big part of a successful marketing plan is a mix of different marketing channels—but not just any channels, ones that will help you achieve your goals. But don't be intimidated by this step—you can think of marketing channels simply as the places you are going to do your marketing (e.g. social media, blogging, SEO, advertising, etc.).

So let's go back to our sample goal. If you're looking to make your brand more recognizable, you might use social media, PR, and content marketing as your marketing channels. If you're looking to launch a new product or service, paid advertising might be a channel to consider. And if you're looking to get better quality leads, email marketing might be the way to go.

Our biggest piece of advice here? Don't overwhelm yourself with marketing channels! You already wear a lot of hats as a small business owners and marketing can become overwhelming when you try to do too much or use every channel out there. Pick 1-3 you can commit to and do really well.

Decide on your marketing tactics

Which brings us to the part where you do your marketing plan. And the tactics (read: things you do) are a super important part of any marketing plan. For example, if your goal is to make your brand more recognizable, what you are actually going to do is maybe:

• Experiment with new types of content
• Create content to post on a regular basis
• Advertise on Facebook
• Plan a giveaway or social media challenge

And just like it's a really smart idea to not pick too many marketing channels, you want to set realistic expectations of what you can handle here as well. Because if you try to do too many things, it's likely you'll start dropping the ball—and find yourself with a marketing plan that doesn't work. So be realistic with your expectations and action items!

Set your marketing budget

And now we are here—the point where we talk about the money you should be putting behind your marketing. Because, even though you can do a lot of free forms of marketing, you still need to create a marketing budget. The reason is, this will help you make decisions about how much money to spend and when—it's kind of hard to figure out what's smart to outsource or invest in if you haven't defined this number. Maybe you want to hire someone to help you set up Facebook ads. Maybe you want to completely outsource your social media management. Regardless of whether you have money to spend or you'll be relying on your own time and effort, once you've created your marketing budget, you can start implementing your marketing plan.

Creating a marketing plan doesn't have to be difficult or super time-consuming. With a little bit of planning, some creativity and the magic of Enji, you can easily put together a plan that will help your small business succeed. Just remember to focus on your marketing goals, create a mix of different marketing channels, and budget for your marketing activities—which you can do all of in our marketing tools! So let's get you set up with a small business marketing plan that works—start your free trial today!

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