The 2015 Planning Window of Opportunity is Upon You

Summer’s gone. School has started. Cooler temps are on the way. Thanksgiving is around the corner. December will be all filled up with holiday activities. That makes now the perfect time to prepare for and lock in an effective 2015 strategic marketing plan and budget.

What’s in it for you? By planning now, you’ll…

- Avoid entering the New Year with no plan, leaving you to only react to opportunities that may appear.
- Clarify the New Year’s business goals and align them with marketing strategies and tactics to help you reach those goals.
- Get the whole team on board with where you’re headed, why you’re headed that way and how everyone can contribute to getting there.
- Save marketing dollars by working with your marketing/PR agency to identify and evaluate opportunities, as well as potentially lock in lower 2014 media rates into 2015.

Investing in planning now will allow you to more fully enjoy the remainder of this year and help ensure a more profitable, more focused and less stressful 2015. After reading the next few sentences, switch screens on your computer to see your calendar. Block off several hours with others involved in your marketing decision-making process and plan for a review of your business and the competitive landscape. If you need help getting your ducks in a row, call CIM Marketing Partners to schedule a Strategic Marketing Summit®. Together, you can create your 2015 strategic marketing plan with right-fit strategies and tactics. In early 2015 and throughout the year, you’ll be glad you did, especially as you experience marketing efforts working behind the scenes of your everyday work efforts to improve profitability and ultimately build the value of your company.

5 Things to Consider when Hiring an Agency

You have been limping along and trying to do marketing and public relations in house with little to no results? There are 5 CIMple considerations in looking for and hiring an outsourced marketing or public relations agency: Does the agency you are considering have experience marketing for the service or product area you and your company focus on? If yes, great. If no, that is great, too! There are pros to hiring an agency with experience, as their learning

Anyone Can Do Marketing

Say, what? “Anyone can do marketing.” Yes, it’s true. Anyone can do marketing. The problem is, being able to “do it” doesn’t equate to being able to do it well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met with a prospective client and had an exchange like this: “Historically, what have you done from a marketing/public relations perspective?” “Well, we’ve tried a little of X, and last year we did Y.” “So, last year, for