Marketing plans are a lot like clothing; you may have on a $50 outfit right now or a $5000 outfit- either option is better than leaving the house naked!

Yes, that $5000 outfit may be made out of better material and may give you a better “look”, but in the event you cannot afford that, I think you will agree that you need to wear something before leaving the house.  On the flip side, who knows, you may have found a great bargain for $50 that people assume cost you much more!

This is how you must look at your marketing plan.  You may need a more cost and time-effective plan, but not having one is NOT an option.  Why?  If you do not have a plan, all of your marketing efforts will be shots in the dark.  It is far better to create a basic marketing plan that you can immediately use than to spend weeks trying to compile “the perfect” plan.

Jay Conrad Levinson and Al Lautenslager have done a great job of outlining a seven sentence marketing plan in their Guerilla Marketing series- yes SEVEN sentences.

1. Marketing purpose
2. Competitive advantage & benefits
3. Target markets
4. Your marketing arsenal
5. Your niche
6. Identity
7. Budget

Take a few minutes and design your marketing plan now and post it somewhere where you will see it constantly.  All of your public relations and marketing decisions will stem from this one sheet of paper!