Having a mission

Have you ever been Christmas shopping when you don't really know what you want to buy someone? You can wander around Macy's for hours looking at shirts and sweaters, pricing them, checking the sizes, when all of a sudden you pass some cologne and think, "Hmm, would that be a better gift?" And you get so confused that you end up leaving the store with nothing.

The best Christmas shopping experiences for me are the ones when I plan out ahead of time what I am going to get each person on my list BEFORE I head to the mall. Then it's in and out in no time, and no buyer's remorse to worry about.

When it comes to planning a marketing strategy for your business, it's important to have a mission and then get your team on board with trying to reach it.

For example, if you're selling a product and simply say "I want to make more money," you may find yourself faced with many options on how you could try to reach your audience. Should you advertise in the local newspaper or on radio? Should you offer a discount to get more customers, or keep the price the same? If you don't have a clear mission, you can get sidetracked with all kinds of suggestions and fun ideas -- especially if you have several people involved in decision making.

Specificity is key to marketing. The more specific you are in what you are trying to achieve, the better you will be in reaching those results.

Before you hire someone to help you with marketing, sit down and think about what your goals are for the next six months, the next year, the next five years. Who do you want to reach? What do you want to achieve? 

You'll be surprised at how quickly the pieces start falling into place once you do.