The third quarter of 2017 is in the books. Is your marketing going according to plan?

While the majority of businesses operate without a formal written marketing plan, most operate from an annual budget, and many follow a marketing calendar.

If you want to create written marketing plan – even a short 1- to 2-page plan summary – here are a few resources:

• Create a Complete Marketing Plan
• Create the Update Schedule for a Marketing Plan
• Create a Marketing Budget

If you’re operating from a calendar, a good way to keep it updated is to use a rolling 12-month calendar using what we call 30/90 vision. Here’s how it works:

1. Choose the format for your calendar. Online calendaring tools like Google calendar or Docs work best, but in a pinch you can still use Word or Excel.
2. Add all of your major marketing events for the next 12 months. Include all industry events, holidays (if they influence your product / service), company activities and campaigns that you’d like to run. Use color codes or a numbering system to designate the type of activity (such as event, digital, multimedia, print, direct mail).
3. Then, review the activities for the next 90 days in detail and discuss with your team. For each activity, decide on the exact dates, what you’re going to do, who’s involved and list any deadlines for creative, print, lists, registrations, etc.
4. Now, narrow your vision to the next 30 days. Review each activity in much greater detail and create your to-do list, itemizing each activity, its owner, due date and any further contingencies.
5. As the month progresses, review your 30 days to-do list each day, your 90-day calendar each week, and update any items on the 9-month calendar as needed (perhaps review it once or twice per month).

At the beginning of the next month:

• Add items to your 12-month calendar for the new month
• Review standing activities for months four to eleven and update as needed
• Review and update all 90 day activities
• Create detailed task lists for the next 30 days

Following this procedure consistently will ensure that you balance a long-term vision with your quarterly and daily marketing activities. As you progress through each month and improve your plan by fleshing out the details, your team is likely to get better marketing results.