Is Developing a Marketing Plan Easy?

For all my friends out there who run their own business or do a hobby on the side that requires letting people know about your product, raise your hand if you enjoy marketing.

C’mon. Don’t be shy. We’re all friends here. Raise them high.

Yeah, marketing isn’t exactly the most fun thing to do in the world. In fact, it can be incredibly exhausting and frustrating. Marketing takes a lot of time and more often than not, you don’t see a return on your investment. That sucks.

Marketing is a necessary evil. It’s really the only way to get knowledge about your product to the buying public. There are a variety of ways to accomplish that goal, and you can spend no money or lots of money on the process. Either way, we should be doing something to market ourselves and our products.

One of the most important things to do before jumping into marketing is deciding what you want to accomplish. Form a plan. How many times have you heard this? How many of you know what it means? For me, it’s confusing. My “plan” basically boils down to wanting to sell books. So, to do that, I’ve followed all the guidelines, including having a blog, being on social media, sending out newsletters, and developing audiobooks. So why aren’t my sales drowning me in profits?

You can Google ways to develop a marketing plan, but the answers might not be as helpful as you want them to be. They weren’t for me. I’ve sat down before and looked at my goals, when I wanted to accomplish them by, and the different avenues I could venture down to accomplish my tasks, but it quickly became apparent I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was just as lost as I had been before and even less inclined to attempt to market myself but not able to afford a PR company.

My goal for the next year is to become better at marketing and to take baby steps to get there. It’s not as easy as it sounds to develop a marketing plan, and it’s even more difficult to stick to it or follow through to the next stage. It’s also incredibly important to track your progress (if possible) during marketing campaigns. Analytics are so important, but they can be cumbersome to read. Still, I’m going to find a way to figure this all out.

Any of you out there have any good strategies or marketing hacks that have worked really well? How do you stay motivated and focused on your goal? Have you created a plan?
Pembroke Sinclair's books on Goodreads
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Death to the Undead Death to the Undead (Sequel to Life After the Undead)
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Dealing with Devils Dealing with Devils (The Road to Salvation, #2)
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ratings: 32 (avg rating 4.00)