The Election's Over...Situation Normal...Or Is It?

With the prospect of five years of relatively stable government in front of us, it’s perhaps the time to start preparing 5-year plans for our own businesses!

To be sure, for some – indeed, probably most – companies that are still around, it has been a bumpy ride since 2010 and for those that have weathered it, there is certainly less market apprehension as we look forward. There is no question that there may be some difficult times ahead but at least there is positivity in the air.

SO, BACK TO YOUR MASTER PLAN

As marketers, we are prone to optimism tempered with reality – creativity balanced with figures – and how that manifests itself is in the way we help our clients plan their marketing programmes. Right now, many of them are busy producing the goods to fulfill orders placed months ago, which is why we are also busy, reviewing sales activity and projecting forward what needs to be in place for 2016.

We’re great fans of checklists to help our clients prepare the information that will guide us and, as an example, below are some of the questions that may help you create a structured plan.

1. Your projected sales for 2015 – how are they shaping up?

• % increase…..% decrease…..

2. Where have sales come from?

• new markets …..%
• existing markets …..%

3. Which products are selling well?

• as expected …..
• against expectations …..

4. Has there been a change in sales pattern? ie. have the sales peaks and troughs moved?
5. Did any of your marketing activities show a response pattern? ie. which ones worked, which ones didn’t?

There is no precise set of rules and generally, our interrogation of your company’s performance is led by our historical understanding of the marketplace and the work we may have done for you previously. So, in essence, the sooner you are able to build up the information bank, the sooner you will be able to take advantage of the forthcoming stability in the UK’s economy.

At least we won’t have to be concerning ourselves with the vagaries of political electioneering for a while!