The Annual Planning Process We Use for Our Marketing Department

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:05.060 welcome back to be to be growth. I'm Dan Sanchez, and today it's just me. I 2 00:00:05.060 --> 00:00:08.800 was just having a conversation with James Carberry, the CEO Sweet Fish 3 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:13.100 Media, about a conversation he had recently with some other heads of 4 00:00:13.100 --> 00:00:17.060 marketing from a few different other companies talking about how they feel 5 00:00:17.060 --> 00:00:20.870 like there is something missing from their year end marketing planning 6 00:00:20.870 --> 00:00:25.270 process. And when James asked me about it, I realized I kind of do have a bit 7 00:00:25.270 --> 00:00:28.520 of a process that I used for my year and planning When wrapping up and 8 00:00:28.520 --> 00:00:33.120 tryingto make sure everything's tight to head into the next year, my 9 00:00:33.120 --> 00:00:36.560 background actually has only recently been a B two B marketing. Before this, 10 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:41.840 I was in higher education and we often employed a lot of students, which means 11 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:45.720 I had a turnover every single year, which means every single year I would 12 00:00:45.720 --> 00:00:49.950 have no or only a few staff workers and all my student workers would be gone, 13 00:00:49.940 --> 00:00:54.290 and I got really good at having a time of just like a quiet reflection for us. 14 00:00:54.290 --> 00:00:58.240 This wasn't in December in January. It was in the summer when we were flipping 15 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:02.600 classes and I'd always have a time to reflect on quite a few things As we 16 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:06.240 headed into the New year. We also had a budgeting period where I would have to 17 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:10.250 think about the marketing strategy for the next year. Between those two things. 18 00:01:10.250 --> 00:01:13.270 They're kind of two separate year ends for us. But I realized I had developed 19 00:01:13.270 --> 00:01:17.320 some processes in order to tighten up the marketing plan and make sure we 20 00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:20.840 were more success successful each year. And it's a lot of those processes I'm 21 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:24.420 now bringing into sweet fish, though I'm doing them all at once, um, for the 22 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:27.990 first time now, but next year will be a little bit different as I review what 23 00:01:27.990 --> 00:01:31.360 happened. That's what happened the past year in orderto launch into the next 24 00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:35.120 year. So let me share with you some of the things that we're doing it. Sweet 25 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:39.170 fish media and hopefully it can inspire you in your year end Planning is we're 26 00:01:39.170 --> 00:01:44.800 heading into 2021. So again, here is my seven point checklist for ensuring my 27 00:01:44.800 --> 00:01:48.950 plan is tight for the next year. Point number one is reviewing the 28 00:01:48.950 --> 00:01:53.720 organization's strategic plan. Every organization, at least ones that are 29 00:01:53.720 --> 00:01:57.240 kind of past the startup model and you have a product market fit. You are 30 00:01:57.240 --> 00:02:00.340 getting together with your leadership team and trying to charting out what 31 00:02:00.340 --> 00:02:03.880 the next year, three year, five years, maybe even 10 years is going to look 32 00:02:03.880 --> 00:02:08.580 like they get together and create a whole plan for the year. And oftentimes, 33 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:12.790 marketing is a big piece of that plan. Uh, in most of the strategic planning 34 00:02:12.790 --> 00:02:18.150 processes I've done, uh, even talking about things. Uh, things narrowly 35 00:02:18.150 --> 00:02:22.010 defined is the demographics of your target buyer are discussed in the 36 00:02:22.010 --> 00:02:26.770 strategic plan. Marketing is a big part of every single company, so naturally, 37 00:02:26.770 --> 00:02:29.960 the marking department gets to speak into that quite a bit. Um, but 38 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:34.690 reviewing that as far as marketing is concerned, I always like to look at 39 00:02:34.690 --> 00:02:38.400 that towards the end of the year. It's usually just recently drafted as we 40 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.500 headed into the year in annual planning process, and I make sure the marketing 41 00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:48.630 plan is aligned to that strategic plan. I look over any new objectives in the 42 00:02:48.630 --> 00:02:52.960 strategic plan that might be new. I think about how what we need to do 43 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.890 throughout the year in order to actually achieve any objectives that 44 00:02:55.890 --> 00:02:59.330 marketing is responsible for. Are there things I asked like, Are there things 45 00:02:59.330 --> 00:03:02.410 that we need to do in the first half of the year that we can't do in the last 46 00:03:02.410 --> 00:03:05.120 half of the year? Otherwise, we won't make the objectives. We won't hit the 47 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:09.250 numbers often. Time marketing carries a huge responsibility for hitting the 48 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:13.040 revenue goals, which is usually a big part of the strategic plan. Not always, 49 00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:17.250 but revenue goals air, usually part of that, um so I usually sit down and look 50 00:03:17.260 --> 00:03:21.660 at that organizational strategic plan very closely to inform the marketing 51 00:03:21.660 --> 00:03:26.480 plan. Which leads me to point to reviewing the marketing plan. Now, I 52 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:31.310 know a lot of people scoff at higher education these days. I actually love 53 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:36.740 higher education, Um, for a few reasons, even though they don't always they well, 54 00:03:36.750 --> 00:03:40.750 they often get behind. When it comes to the latest marketing tactics, you got 55 00:03:40.750 --> 00:03:45.000 to realize that higher education is taking all those marketing tactics in 56 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.290 taking the time to test them with empirical evidence to make sure they 57 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:53.910 actually work. You know, not just sometimes, but most of the time, and 58 00:03:53.910 --> 00:03:57.650 they have the data to back it up before they actually put it in the textbook. 59 00:03:57.640 --> 00:04:01.340 So by the time you're getting the textbook, yes, these practices were 5 60 00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:05.820 10 years old, but they are the They are the practices that were popular, 61 00:04:05.830 --> 00:04:10.440 theorized by someone and then tested and validated, then handed to you as 62 00:04:10.440 --> 00:04:16.610 best practices that have been like proven as best practices. So I like 63 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:20.149 that about higher education. And there is some of the major part of higher 64 00:04:20.149 --> 00:04:24.450 education I picked up from my marketing degree was creating a marketing plan I 65 00:04:24.450 --> 00:04:27.510 actually took. Like when I create a marketing plan and I've looked at lots 66 00:04:27.510 --> 00:04:31.110 of marketing plan templates I like kind of like the more traditional style 67 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:34.690 marketing plan. If you're a startup, it doesn't quite make sense because you're 68 00:04:34.690 --> 00:04:38.110 still trying to figure it out. But I still find having a plan is very 69 00:04:38.110 --> 00:04:42.330 helpful, and it's actually less helpful for me as the head of marketing. I kind 70 00:04:42.330 --> 00:04:46.250 of know the ins and outs of it I like. I don't need to explain it to myself, 71 00:04:46.260 --> 00:04:50.210 but it's really for everybody else. It's from my boss. It's for employees. 72 00:04:50.210 --> 00:04:53.090 It's for new employees I've hired who don't know anything about all the 73 00:04:53.090 --> 00:04:56.680 basics of what we've explored before in the past. So the marketing plan is 74 00:04:56.680 --> 00:05:00.410 really getting everybody on the same page as far as what marketing does. 75 00:05:00.420 --> 00:05:04.680 What our products are, who are competition is and really summarizes it 76 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:09.690 all for others and a really succinct way that helps them get on the same 77 00:05:09.690 --> 00:05:13.230 page with you so that you're running farther faster together. With that 78 00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:16.320 being said, here's the parts of the marketing plan that I like to review 79 00:05:16.320 --> 00:05:20.600 every single year in order to make sure that they're still good. And by the way, 80 00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:24.520 if you're if you haven't made a marketing plan before, I usually like 81 00:05:24.520 --> 00:05:28.420 to make a really thin one, like for a really short one. For starters, I find 82 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:32.630 it grows over. Time is you add more detail and get more nuance about who 83 00:05:32.630 --> 00:05:36.260 you're reaching or like the different pieces I'm gonna cover in a second. Um, 84 00:05:36.260 --> 00:05:39.260 I find it evolves over time, but you got again to get started somewhere and 85 00:05:39.260 --> 00:05:42.040 this year with sweet fish meat. It's my first year making a marketing plan, so 86 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:45.730 it's only a few pages long, but it's a good start. I know, I'll be adding to 87 00:05:45.730 --> 00:05:49.680 it over time as I get insights, Um, that actually informed the rest of 88 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:52.850 these sections. So here the sections that I included a marketing plan again, 89 00:05:52.850 --> 00:05:57.590 I read it over every single year. Um, a company summary. This is your general 90 00:05:57.590 --> 00:06:01.240 that, like you're not marketing copy. This is just the explanation of who the 91 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:05.330 company is and what the company does. As basic as that sounds, that has to be 92 00:06:05.330 --> 00:06:08.680 documented somewhere for even new employees. Newmarket employees to have 93 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:12.930 a basic understanding of what you are and a succinct matter and just a couple 94 00:06:12.930 --> 00:06:16.510 of paragraphs. Eso That's pretty straightforward. But it should be in 95 00:06:16.510 --> 00:06:21.890 there. Um, the second one is products. What are your products? What do you 96 00:06:21.890 --> 00:06:25.200 sell and what are the different packages they come in? Um, that's got 97 00:06:25.200 --> 00:06:27.690 to be listed somewhere. Most people just depend on that being on the 98 00:06:27.690 --> 00:06:30.900 website, but it really should be documented first in the marketing plan 99 00:06:30.910 --> 00:06:36.200 that informs the website, not the other way around. The third part are the 100 00:06:36.200 --> 00:06:40.280 target is the target market that includes the demographic, the 101 00:06:40.280 --> 00:06:43.920 psychographic and the persona information of your targeting. If 102 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.490 you're a B two b company, of which this is B two b grow. So most of you are 103 00:06:47.490 --> 00:06:51.490 almost all of you are B two b company that also includes firma, graphics, the 104 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:55.360 characteristics of the types of companies you're reaching out. Um, this 105 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:59.450 could be a really short sentence that really targets a very specific person 106 00:06:59.450 --> 00:07:02.290 or includes quite a few different profiles that you target depending on 107 00:07:02.290 --> 00:07:06.740 the complexity of your target market or markets. Um, I like to review it every 108 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:10.270 year because I find I can tweak it and sometimes this doesn't change. 109 00:07:10.280 --> 00:07:13.110 Sometimes you know you're going after the exact same person, but it's good to 110 00:07:13.110 --> 00:07:16.900 review it just to make sure, Um because all the changes you make you make you 111 00:07:16.900 --> 00:07:20.080 wanna make sure you let everybody know that this is like the new thing that 112 00:07:20.080 --> 00:07:24.940 you're doing. Um, the competitive, competitive situational situation 113 00:07:24.940 --> 00:07:27.980 analysis, which is kind of like just assessing the type three types of 114 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:31.670 competition. You have the rivals that are competing directly with you new 115 00:07:31.670 --> 00:07:35.200 entrance that are coming into the market that could potentially still 116 00:07:35.210 --> 00:07:38.590 market share away from you and the substitutes other places, customers air 117 00:07:38.590 --> 00:07:44.580 going in order to, uh satisfied the pains or the needs that they have. So 118 00:07:44.590 --> 00:07:47.850 getting a grip on that, actually bullet pointing out all the different possible 119 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:51.990 rivals, new entrance and substitutes is a good practice for me. And I like to 120 00:07:51.990 --> 00:07:56.050 review it. What I thought, what they were last year and updated with any new 121 00:07:56.050 --> 00:08:00.340 relevant information. Because sometimes it's just the year goes on and we 122 00:08:00.340 --> 00:08:03.300 actually have a new competitor, and we forgot to put it in the marketing plan 123 00:08:03.310 --> 00:08:06.350 again. The marketing plan is to update everybody else. It's obvious to you, 124 00:08:06.350 --> 00:08:11.400 but it's for everybody else. Um, and then the last kind of like, major part 125 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:14.610 of the least. The first part of the marketing plan is the SWAT analysis. 126 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:18.130 This can change. This can actually stay the same for multiple years in a row. 127 00:08:18.130 --> 00:08:21.230 But then sometimes something different happens. Something totally shifts. 128 00:08:21.230 --> 00:08:25.150 Maybe you have a big pivot with your company, Um, but in a year like 2020 I 129 00:08:25.150 --> 00:08:30.180 bet the SWAT analysis completely changed. For a lot of people from 20 130 00:08:30.340 --> 00:08:35.799 are from 2019, right. All of a sudden, your strengths, weaknesses, 131 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:39.299 opportunities, threats are looking very different. Post pandemic and post Like 132 00:08:39.299 --> 00:08:42.500 all the things that happened this year. Oh, my goodness. It would be a really 133 00:08:42.500 --> 00:08:47.290 good time to do another SWAT analysis if you haven't done one, Um, done one 134 00:08:47.290 --> 00:08:50.430 yet is part of your annual planning process. So those are kind of like the 135 00:08:50.430 --> 00:08:53.550 major parts of the marketing plan I'd like to review every year. And I find I 136 00:08:53.550 --> 00:08:56.780 pick up nuances that we caught from last year that I want to document for 137 00:08:56.780 --> 00:08:59.950 this year moving forward, and it's important to get those and actually 138 00:08:59.950 --> 00:09:04.900 review you're thinking from last year and update it. So the third point that 139 00:09:04.900 --> 00:09:09.260 I like to reflect on for the year and plan or a year in planning is to review 140 00:09:09.270 --> 00:09:13.650 the marketing objectives that you had set the year before. Um, this is also 141 00:09:13.650 --> 00:09:16.040 part of the marketing plan, but it's a big enough piece that I kind of 142 00:09:16.050 --> 00:09:20.530 separated out as a separate checkpoint on my checklist. Um, I just look at 143 00:09:20.530 --> 00:09:25.480 them. Did we meet the objectives? Why or why not? Um, and that's pretty 144 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:29.320 simple. You just go objective by objective and ask the question, um, 145 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:33.580 looking at them, you'll know pretty quickly whether they were were not, and 146 00:09:33.580 --> 00:09:38.810 that one form the tactics that next. But before we get into that fun fact, 147 00:09:38.820 --> 00:09:43.340 marketing by objective was first introduced by Peter Drucker, which is 148 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:46.300 something I actually learned last night from a book on thought leadership of 149 00:09:46.300 --> 00:09:51.590 all places. Um, but I always like to find out where these concepts come from, 150 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.050 but it's not too old. It's probably only 30 40 years old, where that was 151 00:09:55.050 --> 00:09:59.290 introduced to the business realm. Marketing by objective. So thanks. 152 00:09:59.290 --> 00:10:04.350 Peter Drucker, um, forth thing I like to look at is again reviewing the 153 00:10:04.350 --> 00:10:09.160 tactics you executed, and hopefully your tactics lined up to the objectives. 154 00:10:09.160 --> 00:10:13.220 So you set objectives, and then you try to tie all your taxes tactics to them 155 00:10:13.230 --> 00:10:17.610 and what I really like to do. Um, what's best to do it with the team is 156 00:10:17.610 --> 00:10:21.850 to do a postmortem on every single major tactic you tried to execute that 157 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:25.970 year. Um, to try to figure out how well it went, did it? Is it worth repeating 158 00:10:25.970 --> 00:10:29.850 with it if it didn't go well? Why? Like getting insights from other team 159 00:10:29.850 --> 00:10:32.450 members might give you a much better understanding of like what happened or 160 00:10:32.450 --> 00:10:35.860 didn't happen. If you're the head of marketing for your department, um, I 161 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:39.190 find I usually have a pretty good guess. But sometimes I'm surprised when other 162 00:10:39.190 --> 00:10:43.410 teammates say, Oh, yeah, that didn't work because Susie over here. And not 163 00:10:43.410 --> 00:10:46.250 that I'm saying they, they're gonna blame, shift or whatever. But usually 164 00:10:46.250 --> 00:10:49.330 there's some peace, some more insights like, Yeah, after doing a postmortem on 165 00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:54.670 individual tactics with the team on, we honestly don't do these enough. I find 166 00:10:54.670 --> 00:10:58.200 even myself is market are very future oriented, very goal oriented. I get 167 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:02.890 very excited about what's next and it's using. I usually like to do it at the 168 00:11:02.890 --> 00:11:06.880 year in planning, at least to try to do some of the major tactics we done, if 169 00:11:06.880 --> 00:11:10.100 not all of them just to slow down enough to try to assess, like, what the 170 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:13.860 heck happened last year and why did that go off the rails? Why did that? 171 00:11:13.870 --> 00:11:17.630 That was way more successful than we thought it would be. Why, just to get 172 00:11:17.630 --> 00:11:21.660 more insights out of it before you move into the next year again, Everything 173 00:11:21.660 --> 00:11:25.680 we're talking about is are all things that you put into your plan for the 174 00:11:25.680 --> 00:11:30.250 next year. Actually, don't right marketing plans for year to year. I 175 00:11:30.250 --> 00:11:33.870 just update the current marketing plan and I just change the date on it and 176 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:37.370 just I just keep updating the same document I don't make new documents for. 177 00:11:37.370 --> 00:11:41.040 It's just an evergreen growing piece I might updated throughout the year, but 178 00:11:41.040 --> 00:11:45.270 generally I'm updating it at least once a year at this year End review. But one 179 00:11:45.280 --> 00:11:48.730 extra note about the tactics that I learned recently that I just thought 180 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:55.660 was very insightful is not to document the results of experiments. I know that 181 00:11:55.660 --> 00:11:58.610 seems really n counterintuitive because it seems like you would want a library 182 00:11:58.610 --> 00:12:02.170 of what worked or didn't work in the past. Um, and I can't remember where I 183 00:12:02.170 --> 00:12:06.440 read this, but I just remember remember it so strongly Now that I'm like, man, 184 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:10.610 that was just freaking gold. I love it, and I'm it's gonna be What I do from 185 00:12:10.610 --> 00:12:14.160 now on is I'm not going to document the actual experiments that happened. And 186 00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:18.710 the reason like like little tiny specific experiments like a be split 187 00:12:18.710 --> 00:12:23.480 tests, uh, testing out new channels and new things. The reason is because just 188 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:28.550 because you proved that it was this or that for you. It might be totally 189 00:12:28.550 --> 00:12:31.710 different when somebody else comes on the team. That's new. That hasn't tried 190 00:12:31.710 --> 00:12:34.700 it yet. And for some reason they got the goods. They got the creative spark 191 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:38.760 to make Facebook ads work. Just because you validated that Facebook ads doesn't 192 00:12:38.760 --> 00:12:43.540 work for your marketing team doesn't mean it won't work for somebody else. 193 00:12:43.550 --> 00:12:46.740 Just like if somebody handed me a basketball, it doesn't mean that I'm I 194 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:49.330 could prove right now that I'm not going to get a very good score with the 195 00:12:49.330 --> 00:12:52.270 basketball because I don't do well with basketball. But if somebody else came 196 00:12:52.270 --> 00:12:55.340 on the team who did, they could do really well. So you have to keep that 197 00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:59.380 in mind that just because you did it experiment and even might have even 198 00:12:59.380 --> 00:13:03.850 improved it empirically doesn't mean it might be might not be different later. 199 00:13:04.340 --> 00:13:07.410 Things change for channels. Channels have seasons like there might be a 200 00:13:07.410 --> 00:13:12.120 better season to come, so I don't think you need to create a whole library of 201 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:16.760 what not to dio. Um, just let it live on in your memories and you'll remember 202 00:13:16.760 --> 00:13:21.660 it and be able to prove it. But I think new new new people will come on, and 203 00:13:21.670 --> 00:13:25.810 that's just a little note in tidbit that's extra. That's not necessarily 204 00:13:25.810 --> 00:13:28.510 part of my year and marketing plan, but something I've been thinking about a 205 00:13:28.510 --> 00:13:37.460 lot recently. Um, 0.5 is to review my internal marketing systems. There has 206 00:13:37.460 --> 00:13:40.130 to be a point in the year we actually sit back and actually review these 207 00:13:40.130 --> 00:13:44.320 things. This was a definitely a good habit that I had working for my last 208 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:47.670 employer in higher education space because we had students coming in and 209 00:13:47.670 --> 00:13:50.650 out, which means I got to do an audit and kind of figure out what what worked 210 00:13:50.650 --> 00:13:54.160 well last year versus what we can change and make better for the future. 211 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:00.130 And those four things that I like Thio kind of review and make new plans for 212 00:14:00.140 --> 00:14:03.420 was the project management system. You know how you're getting tasked out to 213 00:14:03.420 --> 00:14:08.400 your team? Um, the team communication systems, Um, how you are communicating 214 00:14:08.400 --> 00:14:11.410 usually for people these days, It's like slack and email, right, like how 215 00:14:11.410 --> 00:14:14.630 well is that going is? Is there better tools? There's there different ways of 216 00:14:14.630 --> 00:14:18.060 using it that you've heard about, but never really sat down to really think 217 00:14:18.060 --> 00:14:22.070 like, Hey, how well is this going? Um, do we need a add channels? Do we need 218 00:14:22.070 --> 00:14:26.440 to cut back on channels? Um, things that you need to be asking their, um 219 00:14:26.450 --> 00:14:30.390 you need to review and kind of think about your on boarding and off boarding 220 00:14:30.390 --> 00:14:34.640 systems for your department. Um, and your specifically what? Just 221 00:14:34.650 --> 00:14:38.550 introducing them to the team. The training year and planning is a great 222 00:14:38.550 --> 00:14:41.230 way to do it. And it's not something that ever goes into the marketing plan, 223 00:14:41.230 --> 00:14:44.240 but and it's gotta live somewhere. And you gotta be able to have a place to 224 00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:47.460 evaluate these things because these are these are the nuts and bolts that make 225 00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:51.260 your department run. The marketing plan is great, but if you don't have a great 226 00:14:51.260 --> 00:14:56.130 internal systems and a great team, then your marketing plan is just not gonna 227 00:14:56.130 --> 00:15:00.600 be executed very well. And the last thing in this part is there your 228 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:04.500 training systems? What do your ongoing training systems like, um, to keep your 229 00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:05.770 team sharp. 230 00:15:07.040 --> 00:15:12.980 So the six point of my checklist is to review where your department currently 231 00:15:12.980 --> 00:15:17.070 stands with stakeholders and there's five different stakeholders. I like to 232 00:15:17.070 --> 00:15:19.970 kind of assess. This is kind of new for me and have something I didn't start 233 00:15:19.970 --> 00:15:23.550 doing until more recently, within the last year and a half. Um, but I like to 234 00:15:23.550 --> 00:15:26.370 review, like, where where is our department Standing with the heads of 235 00:15:26.370 --> 00:15:29.350 other departments. Because I might need to think through like, what I need to 236 00:15:29.350 --> 00:15:32.870 do this year in order to earn some more favor back from departments. Maybe I 237 00:15:32.870 --> 00:15:36.890 lost in favor with or departments that I still want to continue to hold tight 238 00:15:36.890 --> 00:15:40.220 because I know it might be a rough you when we're trying to hit some big 239 00:15:40.220 --> 00:15:43.390 objectives together or something like that s o heads of departments. 240 00:15:43.400 --> 00:15:49.130 Certainly your boss, Um, the employees within the department and forth is 241 00:15:49.130 --> 00:15:53.010 vendors, actually something. This is something I'm starting to think about 242 00:15:53.020 --> 00:15:56.940 even now. Something I just recently added to my checklist is vendors as 243 00:15:56.940 --> 00:15:59.880 sweet fish media. We have a couple of strategic vendors we work with, and I 244 00:15:59.880 --> 00:16:02.440 want to make sure we have a tight relationship with those guys because if 245 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:05.760 they pulled out there would just be not pulled out, but just you know, the 246 00:16:05.760 --> 00:16:09.970 relationship wasn't great. That could be, I don't know. It just would slow 247 00:16:09.970 --> 00:16:13.890 things down for us, um, as a company. So I wanna make sure that I'm thinking 248 00:16:13.890 --> 00:16:17.380 about our vendors and treating them well so that we have a good working 249 00:16:17.380 --> 00:16:21.500 relationship. And the last one, of course, is customers. But how well are 250 00:16:21.500 --> 00:16:24.690 you dealing with customers? Are you talking to customers? How well are you 251 00:16:24.690 --> 00:16:27.820 going and asking them and doing informal interviews with them in a 252 00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:32.330 systematic way? Um, I always find that I get so excited executing the work 253 00:16:32.330 --> 00:16:36.620 that I forget to slow down just to talk to customers and or prospects, right? 254 00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:39.980 You've got to be having conversations with them on an ongoing basis. And this 255 00:16:39.990 --> 00:16:43.640 in part of the year in plan I'd like to review. That is part of this sixth 256 00:16:43.650 --> 00:16:50.000 checklist item, and this last is for the seventh checklist. Item is 257 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.790 reviewing the backlog of ideas. I don't know about you, but I tend to have, 258 00:16:54.790 --> 00:16:59.030 like, ah, file somewhere. That's kind of like it's kind of like a drunk 259 00:16:59.030 --> 00:17:01.840 drawer, but, you know, there's good stuff in there this, but there's a lot 260 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:05.230 of stuff in there. I tend tohave. Ah, lot of people pitch me on marketing 261 00:17:05.230 --> 00:17:08.940 ideas because everybody's got marketing ideas. And honestly, I'm usually so 262 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:11.859 busy trying to execute the ideas that we put down and agreed to at the 263 00:17:11.859 --> 00:17:16.050 beginning of the year, a k a. The marketing plan that some some ideas 264 00:17:16.050 --> 00:17:19.060 just go into a file and just never see the light of day again. But that's a 265 00:17:19.060 --> 00:17:21.599 shame, because some of us there's some really good ideas in there, and some of 266 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:24.560 those ideas need to die. But you should probably go out and just clean out the 267 00:17:24.560 --> 00:17:27.810 ones that need to die and just kind of like, get them out of that folder or 268 00:17:27.810 --> 00:17:31.150 wherever the heck you're putting them and bring back some of the ones that 269 00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:36.610 were presented to you that maybe you should bake into, Ah, the tactical plan 270 00:17:36.610 --> 00:17:41.380 of your marketing plan because they might, they might fit up. They might be 271 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:44.270 great tactics for reaching the objectives that air new objectives for 272 00:17:44.270 --> 00:17:48.170 you this year, so you might want to bring them back. You might and but for 273 00:17:48.170 --> 00:17:51.960 sure, clear it out and kind of get a fresh start. Um, and bring back the 274 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:55.170 ones that were worth keeping and just kind of. I like to just delete the ones 275 00:17:55.170 --> 00:17:58.580 that weren't worth keeping because if they're good, they'll come back. So 276 00:17:58.590 --> 00:18:01.870 that's it. Those air, my seven major points of which there's multiple sub 277 00:18:01.870 --> 00:18:04.800 points of them. But you kind of get the idea. Those air, The seven major things 278 00:18:04.800 --> 00:18:10.600 that I like to review at the year end to inform my plan for the next year so 279 00:18:10.600 --> 00:18:14.510 that I know I have. I'm running a tight ship time I'm accounting for where 280 00:18:14.510 --> 00:18:17.310 we're going. I'm accounting for what happened last year, Um, accounting for 281 00:18:17.310 --> 00:18:21.820 the ongoing systems and relationships. And I'm dealing with kind of the junk 282 00:18:21.820 --> 00:18:25.480 drawers in our department of ideas that have kind of stagnated there for a 283 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:29.730 while. Um, and I find that it kind of keeps things running smoothly and get 284 00:18:29.730 --> 00:18:32.920 them out of my mind. And it's just a really good reset for the end of the 285 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:35.970 year. And that's how we're moving forward with sweet fish media. 286 00:18:35.970 --> 00:18:39.100 Hopefully, some of those were insightful to you, I'm sure as I listed 287 00:18:39.100 --> 00:18:41.460 them, you thought of one or two that you're like, huh? Yeah, I probably 288 00:18:41.460 --> 00:18:45.250 should evaluate that. Um, So go ahead and write it down. Take some time to 289 00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:47.840 review those things. I don't find that it takes long to review all these 290 00:18:47.840 --> 00:18:50.860 things. The longest part is the postmortems to go over the specific 291 00:18:50.860 --> 00:18:56.860 tactics with team members. But you and or another, um, person that works 292 00:18:56.860 --> 00:19:00.720 closely with you and marketing could probably knock all these out in about 293 00:19:00.730 --> 00:19:04.940 an hour to, um and it's really well worth it at the end of the year. So 294 00:19:04.940 --> 00:19:06.570 hopefully this has been a help to you.