MOST BUSINESSES DON'T HAVE A MARKETING PLAN.
THEY HAVE A COLLECTION OF INTENTIONS.
A proper marketing plan tells you who you are trying to reach, what you want them to do, where you're going to reach them, what you're going to say and how you will know if it worked.
START WITH THE BUSINESS GOAL.
Before Instagram. Before TikTok. Before ads. Before deciding that your logo urgently needs another redesign.
Not "we want more engagement".
What does that engagement need to lead to?
DECIDE WHO YOU ACTUALLY WANT.
"Our target market is everyone."
If everyone is your customer, nobody is.
A business in Newton Park has a different audience from one in Summerstrand.
A beauty salon has a different audience from an industrial supplier.
KNOW YOUR PE CATCHMENT AREA.
Local marketing gets much easier once you stop pretending geography doesn't matter.
Your geography should influence your Google strategy, ad targeting, content, outreach, SEO and delivery area.
YOU DON'T NEED ALL OF PE. YOU NEED THE RIGHT PART OF PE.
WHY SHOULD SOMEONE CHOOSE YOU?
This part gets uncomfortable.
Your competitors say that too.
What makes you genuinely worth choosing?
LOOK AT YOUR COMPETITORS.
Not so you can copy them.
PLEASE DON'T.
Look at what they're doing so you understand the battlefield.
CHOOSE WHERE YOU'RE GOING TO SHOW UP.
You do not need to be everywhere.
You need to be where your customers are.
GIVE EVERY PLATFORM A JOB.
NOW YOUR MARKETING STOPS FEELING LIKE SIX UNRELATED JOBS.
CREATE CONTENT PILLARS.
You do not want to wake up every morning asking:
"What do we post today?"
That question will slowly eat your soul.
Create three to five recurring themes instead.
DECIDE HOW OFTEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY SHOW UP.
Consistency beats an enthusiastic three-day content explosion followed by six weeks of silence.
Your exact numbers may be different.
PLAN BEFORE THE MONTH STARTS.
Marketing becomes dramatically easier when you aren't inventing it every morning.
Add public holidays, local events, promotions, launches, seasonal opportunities and important business dates.
DECIDE WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO SPEND.
A marketing plan without a budget can become a very imaginative document.
BUILD A LOCAL STRATEGY.
A Port Elizabeth business has something national brands would love:
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THEY RESPOND?
Marketing generates the lead.
Then what?
Who responds?
How quickly?
What happens if the customer disappears?
TRACK NUMBERS THAT ACTUALLY MATTER.
Please don't build your entire marketing strategy around likes.
CHANGE THE PLAN WHEN THE DATA SAYS SO.
A marketing plan is not a tattoo.
You're allowed to change it.
NOT: PLAN → FORGET DOCUMENT EXISTS.
YOUR SIMPLE MARKETING PLAN.
What are we trying to achieve?
Who do we want to reach?
Where are they?
Why should they choose us?
Who else wants their attention?
Where will we show up?
What will we talk about?
How often?
What can we spend?
What happens to a lead?
How will we judge success?
When do we adjust?
STOP MARKETING RANDOMLY.
The purpose of a marketing plan is not paperwork.
It's clarity.
You know who you're trying to reach. You know what you want them to do. You know where you're going to find them. And you know what success looks like.
YOUR STRATEGY SHOULD BE MORE THAN POST. BOOST. HOPE.
Voodoo Media helps Port Elizabeth businesses turn random marketing activity into an actual strategy.
Social media, content creation, websites, SEO, Google Business and digital strategy, all pointing in the same direction.