It’s the time of year that I am doing a lot of work with clients preparing and/or reviewing their 2011 marketing plans. I have noticed a trend this year among many of my clients to set marketing goal deadlines that are overly ambitious or downright unreachable. Although the goals themselves are perfectly reasonable, it is the short timelines they are setting to achieve them that may end up causing discouragement or even financial disaster.
Because many of my clients are seeing an uptick in business this year, especially over the last few years of economic constriction, they are overly optimistic about the length of time it will take for their projected growth to occur. The fact is that, with proper guidance, planning and strategic implementation, their businesses will probably be able to achieve the goals they’ve set; but not within the designated timeframe.
We all need to take a step back and realize that very few, if an, marketing efforts show results overnight; even if we need those results yesterday. Look at what you want to accomplish, consider what method(s) you will use to get your message out to your target market, what will it take to produce your message and get it out there, and then build in time to allow for a response.
So take the time to set reasonable deadlines for your marketing goals. If you take all the steps and allow time for the implementation of each one along the way, you will see results.
Sticky Marketing - Marketing Ideas that Stick with Your Target Audience 