Back to: How to Write a Show-Stopping Business Plan Step-by-Step
Track your results
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- A full marketing plan will require you to allocate a ROI (return on investment) amount per marketing activity to be able to calculate how effective it is for you – and we recommend you do this in the long term.
However, at the Business Plan stage, it is enough to simply keep track of three core things:
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- What activities you are doing – and when
- What worked well and what didn’t – and why
- Whether you attained leads as a direct result of the activity
You can record these results on a tracking sheet per activity or keep an online log so that after 6 months or so, you can look back and review your results to see whether the activity was a success (and therefore should continue) or whether you may want to try something more effective (an example tracking sheet is included in the worksheet). Alternatively, you can just ask each new client how they heard about you.
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What did our Case Studies decide to do?
We asked our case studies participants to extend their previous paragraphs to include how they plan to track their marketing results:
Geoff: “I will be tracking the results of my marketing efforts by asking all new clients where they heard about me so I can take note of word-of-mouth success. I will also be asking any potential clients I meet at the car shows if I can keep their contact information and send them more details of the services I provide.” Jennifer: “I’m going to keep a tracking sheet of each of my marketing activities and keep a log of how many inquiries I receive via social media and my website. The website will also include a sign up to our online newsletter so I can gather prospect information. If I run a special promotion, I will track that separately.” Mike: “I’m going to monitor the type and number of inquiries coming in through the website myself. The radio station is going to give me feedback on the stats received via the radio ad but I will also be watching that closely to see if it generates much interest.” Cindi and Wayne: “Our new business cards for the new area are going to include a 10% off offer so it will be easy to see who is a new client in the Sherwood Park area. We’ll be able to measure how many people take up that offer and adjust the offer if necessary or try something else.”
Activity
- How will you track your marketing activities? Write a paragraph in your notes, or fill in the worksheet.