We’ve all had that feeling…that Next Great Marketing Idea has just struck you and it’s time to go ahead with it while the going’s good! No since in wasting time, right?

Well…slow down there, buster.

Take that idea, sit it down in your office and nurture it. Jumping overboard without a raft can be dangerous. You need to plan properly before kicking off a marketing campaign. As a matter of fact, there are a few things you should be absolutely clear on before you do the first bit of marketing.

Without having your marketing strategy established, you can really screw up finances, planning, and alienate your audience.

What are the (often expensive dangers) of kicking off a marketing plan without any definite objective in mind? Well, here are two things you should not invest much time until you have a marketing strategy set in place.

Your printed collateral materials will go to waste. All of those pretty brochures and business cards and whatever else you had printed up in your excitement to start a business have to pretty much be linked or whatever marketing you do. If you print all of this up before you have a marketing plan in mind, you are basically making limitations for that marketing, as it needs to be synchronous with any printed media you’ve released.

Your website will need expensive re-designs: These can get expensive. But if you build it after you have set your marketing strategy, there are so many tools you can implement on your site to work towards your marketing. And with social media set in place to help push your marketing along, your website can become a central hub of sorts where everything meets and connects.

However, if you get your website created without a real marketing strategy in place, you’ll find yourself going back to your designer for tweaks and other bells and whistles. Structuring your site around any marketing plans you have set in place is easier and less expensive in the long run.

The better planned your marketing strategy is, the easier most everything else is going to be to get rolling. Just make sure to keep your goals consistent and realistic and your marketing efforts can help fuel the engine of you success!