2 more big ways to mess up your marketing plan

Earlier this week, we looked at the big mistakes messing up your marketing plan. Robert Cole, a good friend and a brilliant guy, volunteered the two following additions to the list:

• Randomly doing things that do not strategically support the plan, and, perhaps most damaging…
• Not having a plan at all

Doing things that don’t support the plan is a huge waste of time, energy and resources. I’ve seen many companies continually chase “new opportunities” (or, as I call them, distractions), circling back again and again to the same place and wondering why they never get anywhere.

Of course, you can be both opportunistic and effective. “Opportunistic” works even better when it’s aligned strategically. Knowing where you want to end up is one of the most helpful components of a successful plan. If you’ve got the right plan — the right strategy — you’re actually better positioned to see alternate paths to your long-term success and take the greatest advantage of true opportunities, while letting the distractions fall by the wayside.

Finally, not having a plan is the kiss of death. Dwight Eisenhower said it best,

“Plans are useless. But planning is indispensable.”

Or, as some pithy wag put it, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.

Technorati Tags: marketing, marketing best practices, objectives, online marketing, opportunity, strategy, success