Your 2009 Marketing Plan – Put it in Writing | Travel Research Online

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Your 2009 Marketing Plan – Put it in Writing

TRO has devoted the last few weeks to assisting agents in developing a 2009 Marketing Plan. Follow along with us each day to gain the traction you need to make 2009 your best year ever.

We have spent the last few weeks reviewing the basic components of a marketing plan.  It is now time to put the plan into writing.  The importance of writing your plan can not be overstated, but it can be misunderstood.  Firstly, the process of planning is more important than “the plan.”  The time you have spent, and will spend, planning and thinking about your travel practice has been  invaluable. One of the common syndromes of business people is to spend so much time “in” their business that they spend no time “on” their business. Secondly, your marketing plan is not fixed in stone, you will re-visit it throughout the year, making adjustments as circumstances change. A marketing plan is organic – it grows as your practice grows and it has to be allowed the flexibility to change as necessary.

That said, however, putting your plan in writing is still very important.  Firstly, when we move from a thought to writing, we better understand the thought.  What we understand innately or intuitively takes on a different reality when we are forced to articulate.  Writing brings clarity to thought.  When we are capable of better articulating a thought, we are better at communicating it to others – a pretty important concept in marketing!

Secondly, putting a plan in writing provides a set of benchmarks by which we can gauge our progress.  If we said we would acquire 4 new FIT clients by Valentine’s Day, our Marketing Plan will remind us daily of that goal. It will allow us to measure successes and to adjust for failures. If a plan is not in writing, you are less likely to hold yourself accountable.  What is not written cannot be well measured and what is not well measured cannot be managed.

Next week is our final week on our 2009 marketing plan where we will re-organize our thoughts, ask ourselves some tough questions and memorialize our plan.

Exercise – This weekend, go back through the last six weeks of the 365 Guide and fill in the blanks. Flesh out your thoughts on each topic.  Write a few complete sentences about each of the daily topics we covered. Organize your notes and get ready for next week’s final steps in launching your plan.

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