If you’re looking to grow your personal brand on Linkedin, you’re in the right place. We’ll walk you step by step to create a marketing plan that will help you develop marketing strategies, growth hacks, and new product announcements to hit the mainstream media in order to achieve this. Read on and get inspired.
The Importance of a Digital Marketing Plan
The purpose of a digital marketing plan is to lay out a blueprint for your digital marketing activities over the next three to six months. When developing your plan, take into consideration the season and weather patterns in your area as well as your target audience’s behavior. Doing this will help you decide which digital marketing tactics to use and when to use them.
You also need to set a date for the end of the project so you can review and evaluate your progress. At the end of the day, you’ll never know if what you did was effective until later, so having a definite ending point will save you both time and money.
Step 1: Set A Date For The End Of The Project
The first step in the development of your plan is to set a date for the end of the project. This is important because it gives you something to aim for. If you don’t have one already, you can use the 30-day rolling forecast function on Google Sheets to create a simple and effective plan. This will help you stay focused on your goals while also keeping you motivated to work hard.
Setting a date also helps you measure the success of your plan. If you set a date at the end of April, you’ll know towards the end of that month whether or not what you’ve laid out will be effective. If you set a date at the end of June, you’ll know towards the end of that month whether or not what you’ve laid out will be effective. Meaning, if you finish writing your plan on June 30 and you set that as your end date, you’ll know for certain by the end of that month whether or not what you’ve laid out will be effective.
Step 2: Create An Outline Of The Plan
An outline is just an idea of what your plan will include, not the actual content. You can use the following format to create your outline:
- Title: This is the title of your plan, something that will remind you of what it is you’re creating.
- Executive Summary: This is a summary of what you’ll cover in the plan. Keep this short and sweet.
- Description: This is a detailed description of the plan, broken down into multiple sub-points.
- Objectives: This is a list of specific marketing objectives you’ll set for yourself throughout the course of the plan.
- Key Performance Indicators: Identify specific key performance indicators you’ll use to measure your progress.
- Materials And Tools: This is a list of all the tools and resources you’ll need to carry out the plan.
- Steps: This is a list of the specific steps you’ll take to fulfill your objectives.
- Timeline: Estimate the timeline for each phase of the plan.
- Financial Analysis: This is a breakdown of the costs associated with the plan and an estimate of the potential return on investment (ROI).
- Personnel: This is a list of the key people (marketers, analysts, writers, copy-writers, designers, etc) you’ll need for the plan.
Once you have your outline, take a few days to flesh it out. Use this time to add in any additional details that were missed or to change any of the information written in the outline. Once you’re happy with what you’ve added, take a little less than a week to go through the plan and make sure everything is spelled correctly and that you’ve used the right terminology.
When you use the right terminology and spellings, everything will be much simpler and easier to understand. Spellcheck and grammarly are your best friends in the writing process. When you’ve gone through the plan once, go back through it and make sure you’ve captured everything. If you find something is missing, add it to your plan and get back to working on it. Soon, you’ll have an outline that is solid and complete enough to move forward with
Step 3: Create A To-Do List
A to-do list is just a list of tasks you want to complete before the end of the plan. This can be anything from writing a series of blog posts to growing your social media accounts to getting out of debt to being able to travel the world. Whatever your dreams are, you can create a to-do list to help you make them come true.
Having a to-do list will help you keep your goals in sight, particularly when there are so many things to do and you feel scattered. Setting aside time to do all of this is difficult, but using a to-do list will help you make the most of your time and focus on what’s important. If you have a dream of being a famous singer, for example, you could set aside time every day to practice singing and on days when you don’t have time, you could put it on your to-do list. By doing this, you’ll find it much easier to stay focused on your goals and keep working towards them.
Step 4: Set Goals
Goals are vital in order to keep track of your progress and evaluate whether or not what you’ve accomplished was worthwhile. Setting goals and reviewing them regularly is also a great way to stay motivated and inspired. A goal can be anything you want it to be, but it should be measurable and have a clear definition.
For example, if you want to be the best at writing blog posts, you could set a goal of writing one blog post a week. This will give you something to work towards. As you accomplish this goal, you’ll feel motivated and encouraged to continue writing. If the process seems too tedious at times, you can create a list of rewards for yourself, such as, taking a vacation or buying a new car. These are just some examples, but whatever you choose, make sure it’s something that will motivate you to work harder towards your goal.
Step 5: Create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are objective measures you’ll use to determine the effectiveness of your plan. KPIs can be anything from the number of subscribers you have on your blog to the amount of money you brought in at retail this past month.
These are metrics you’ll use to determine whether or not your plan was successful. A successful digital marketing plan will have key performance indicators (KPIs) in place before and after the plan is executed. This will allow you to determine the effectiveness of each individual step within the plan. Once you identify these metrics, you can determine which steps were the most influential in reaching your goals.
Step 6: Create Materials And Tools
Materials and tools are the things you’ll need to carry out your plan. When creating these items, think about what’s relevant to your target audience. Do you have a podcast that covers business-related topics? Create a list of keywords and phrases for the episodes you’ll produce and distribute as well as a list of guest experts you’ll interview. If you have a specific business app you need in order to carry out your plan, create a list of requirements (features, functionalities, etc) and develop a shortlist of possible vendors. Once you have a shortlist, compare your options and choose the one that best suits your needs.
Step 7: Create A Timeline
Timelines are important because they help you organize your thoughts. A timeline can be used to show how you’ll achieve your goals and what steps you’ll take to get there. This is important because it can help you brainstorm and choose options that are within your means.
For example, if you want to become a singer, you might want to set aside a year to study music, perform throughout the UK, and prepare for a recording contract. Choosing this option might seem like a long shot, but setting a timeline will keep you motivated to work hard and see it through.
Step 8: Create A Checklist
A checklist is a list of everything you need to do in order to accomplish a task. You can use checklists to make sure you don’t forget anything important. Remember, however, that you shouldn’t use a checklist to make sure you do everything listed. Instead, you should use it to make sure you don’t miss anything important.