Photo courtesy Newstream.com
Yahoo! Internet-connected billboard in Times Square
Planning your company's marketing program is a process much like the one you go through as a young person deciding what you want to do with your life. You go through phases of:
  • learning and discovery of the world around you
  • development and self-realization of skills, strengths and weaknesses
  • goal setting based on those strengths and weaknesses
  • setting strategies for achieving your goals
  • planning your attack
  • working through that plan to make it happen

This mirrors the process your business must go through in planning your marketing. In this article, we'll talk about how to know your business, know your market, understand your strengths and weaknesses, and find the opportunities within those strengths and weaknesses in order to plan your marketing and make it happen. We'll also give you some tips and rules from which all marketers can benefit.