Ad hoc marketing doesn?t work. You can?t send one email newsletter and sit back and expect the phone to ring. You can?t go to one networking meeting and expect everyone there to give you business.

Good marketing works when you keep doing it. And to keep doing it and doing the right things, you need a plan. But what do you put into your Marketing Plan? Here?s the outline that I always use:

Situation ? where are you now? When products and services do you sell? Who are your competitors? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are the opportunities and threats affecting your business? You need to know where you are before you can move on.

Objectives ? where do you want to be? Think about your short, medium and long term goals.

Strategy ? how are you going to get from where you are to where you want to be? Will you sell more of your existing services or create new ones? Will you sell more to your existing clients or look for new ones?

Targets ? who are your ideal clients? What problems are they struggling with that you can help them to solve? What makes them tick?

Tactics ? what marketing activities will you use? There are so many that you need to be selective and plan what you?re going to do, when and how.

Budget ? how much can you afford to spend and how much will all the different activities cost?

Timings ? think about how long different activities will take, what you can do for quick results and what will require more time.

Resources ? can you do all the marketing, or do you need to get help with certain aspects of it?

Measurements ? you need to do more of what works and less of what doesn?t. The only way to know what to do is to measure all your marketing.

If all that sounds a bit confusing then come to a workshop I?m running on 7 April 2011 at The Elephant in Pangbourne, Berkshire. The workshop, being delivered jointly with Rob Pickering from ActionCoach, will take you through the planning process. At the end of the half day session, you?ll be able to walk away your very own Marketing Plan that you can use to grow your business this year. Click here for more information.