Working on your business :: Creating a marketing plan

This post is part of the FNC series on working on your business. 


Merchants spend a lot of time at their businesses and those 'mom and pop's demand a lot of time, energy, and attention to keep customers interested and coming back. 


This list is only five items long but contains BIG to-do items for working on a business marketing plan.

Why Create a Marketing Calendar? 

"1. We must be pro-active in attracting customers to our store. We can no longer wait until customers walk in the front door.2. There are many types of promotions today. There are a lot more options than just price or the “let’s have a sale” mentality.3. If we prepare and do things in advance we take away the pressure that comes from trying to scramble around looking for an idea. LESS STRESS.4. “When cooler heads prevail.” There is an old expression about working in, or working on, our businesses. Planning a six month or a 12 month calendar is working on our business. This is something we just don’t do enough.5. An opportunity to try new promotions. Do you have a list of GREAT PROMOTIONAL IDEAS? If not, start one. Every time you hear a great idea, write it down or put it into a file of great ideas that you think about when you are planning your promotions. This is the time to discuss, include, wait for another time, or reject ideas."


The above list was written by Rick Segel. 
For further reading, please refer to his post which expands upon this plan for marketing your business further.