We are into the time of year when marketing budgets and plans are being put together for next year. With the lingering impact of the recession and the threat of inflation looming just over the foothills, it is necessary to be very savvy in your marketing plans if you are counting on doing business in 2012. However, there is a temptation to put off what you don’t want to do. This is the Rip Van Winkle syndrome, and it can have a very harmful impact on your business if you are not careful.

You might remember that the story of Rip Van Winkle centers around the relationship between Mr. Van Winkle and his wife; Dame Van Winkle. She kept complaining because he never got anything done. Old Rip was a procrastinator. He figured he would get around to things in due time. However, the farm was in need of repair, but Rip would rather live a life of idleness than work. So one day, when she was nagging him to get things fixed up, he decided instead to take a stroll in the hills with his dog. He met a man carrying a keg of liquor. He followed the man where he was led to a clearing. Here, men were playing a game of nine pins (bowling) and Rip decided to sit and watch. They offered him some of their liquor, he fell asleep while watching their bowling match, and didn’t wake up for two decades! When he did wake up, he found that the world had changed drastically while he slept, and he was out of step with everything and everyone.

If you are suffering from Rip Van Winkle syndrome in your marketing plans, there are some cautions I would toss your way. First, understand how fast things change in business today. A marketing plan really needs to be fluid in its application. Businesses are looking for the best method to market their services that will have the greatest impact on their target. Old marketing methods are dying. New methods seem to be birthed every day. You have to stay current on what is working with your clients. If it is not proven, don’t do it. If it is not working any more, replace it with a method that will work. In our economy, there just are not enough budgetary dollars to fail in your marketing. You need to be nimble enough to be able to change your methods and awake enough to realize what is working and what is not.

Secondly, there is a tendency amongst marketing departments to do the same thing they did last year and the year before, etc. The problem with this approach is that the world has changed drastically over the past couple of years. If you are still using the same methods you were using in 2009 and 2010, you need to take a strong look to see if they are as effective as they should be. This will take some digging on your part. Get some real statistics behind your methods. For instance, if you are using some sort of placed advertising, what is the call to action in your ad? Are you asking the prospect to go to your web site or to call your business phone? If so, you need a way to measure just how many clicks you are getting on your web site or phone calls you are receiving from this source. How do you do this? Try using a separate phone number just for your ad. In the case of the web site, send the viewer to a landing page that is dedicated to this particular ad so that you can measure the activity that your ad is generating for you. Don’t be taken in by a slick marketing trick (for instance, there were x number of searches for your business on our search engines last year. You should be advertising with us.) Be diligent in searching out this information to make sure it is accurate.

Thirdly, there is no excuse to be slothful in your marketing plans. Marketing is the engine that drives customers to you. The outlook is not good for companies who have not planned well for 2012. Gone are the days of Friday afternoons off for the sales and marketing department. There is real work to be done if you are to survive in the year ahead. Otherwise, the world will pass you by. Memorial Day, then Labor Day, then winter without an autumn and twenty years later, you could wake up to find the business you knew no longer exists.