If you’ve been operating without a marketing plan for years, you may not see the need for developing one now. But a failure to plan for upcoming threats, opportunities and day-to-day marketing activities can leave you ill-prepared and under-performing.

Whether you’re an experienced pro or brand new to marketing, creating a written plan for your company each year helps you decide how to spend your marketing money and, eventually, if you need to adjust that budget.

You might even consider a multi-year plan. The first twelve months would be very detailed. The second and third-year plans wouldn’t typically include tactics, calendars or detailed budgets, only the goals and top-line budgets. Multi-year plans give you a longer overview.

A few reminders:

• A marketing plan isn’t carved in stone. You can make changes as your current environment necessitates.
• Having a plan will give your leadership team a year-long overview of your goals, strategies and tactics.
• Once you have your first marketing plan, creating plans for subsequent years is a little easier since you’ll be working from a previous model or template.

Forbes Forum: Content Creation - Part 6