As with anything in the business world – or even in life actually – it’s essential to have a plan. Without one it’s not easy to make progress. Here I’m going to share with you the essentials of any marketing plan. If you want to get your website seen by thousands of eyes, give it a go.

Key Components of the Marketing Plan

• craft a set of measurable goals. If you want 500 visitors daily to your site, add this to your plan.
• Use a variety of marketing channels to reach your prospects, ie Facebook, Twitter, article marketing, search engine marketing
• measure your progress by installing a metrics tool such as Google Analytics
• work your plan over 6 – 12 months
• consider the demographics and the geographics of your niche market
• add any new products that you want to launch over the next year

Start brainstorming. List every advertising/marketing channel that you feel would reach your niche market. Add specific goals – for example if you want another 20 customers during the month of June, then add this in. Add growth – so that you 50 customers by November.

Now you need to add more detail. How often are you going to post to Twitter to reach your goals? How many new contacts are you going to make in LinkedIn – and what constitutes a quality contact that you could consider a lead?

Building a marketing plan can at times feel overwhelming, but remember to start small and build it as you go. Take on what you can fit into your available hours per week, and record your activities on a spreadsheet. Spending just one hour a day – six days a week will take a business a long way with many new potential clients. How about starting today so that you can begin reaching new customers.