Analysis paralysis might just be the biggest killer of business creativity in digital marketing today. This is something that I have seen in many organizations, large and small.

When you’re a large corporation, you have to have mountains of data and creative briefs that prove you deserve your job in case you fail, The problem is that this idea of protecting yourself from failure is the best way to fail.

I get it. Especially if you’re working for somebody else, you must prove that you have a strategy and you execute on that well-thought-out strategy. The problem is whether you’re running ads, writing blog posts, or creating social media updates it doesn’t matter.

You are probably going to fail more than likely, at least 50%. Actually, let me take that back. If you know what you’re doing, there is still a good chance you will.

However, if you’re really, really, really good at what you’re doing, and you have a great audience and a great following, there is still a good chance that you will fail 50% of the time. Now I don’t say this to discourage you. That is business. You fail until you succeed.

Because of this, you just need a simple plan to grow your business. That is what we discuss below.

5 Step Marketing Plan to Create Amazing Results

Step 1: Identify your goal

What do you really want? I know this sounds more like a motivational speech, and because I guess it is coming from this blog it is. However, let’s get back to digital marketing.

Let’s say you operate a real estate company. I have a real estate that I am working with right now, and we are focusing on how he can grow his business.

The first step is to find out what he wants for his business. We need to be 100% clear on his goals.

One of the most obnoxious goals a business can have for their digital marketing is to make more money. For the record, that’s a horrible goal.

Tell me, how many more houses do you want to sell this year than you did last year? If you own a contracting business, how many houses do you want to repair versus last year? How many calls do you need this year to hit your goal?

You’re identifying a goal that you could hit based on actions you take throughout the year, which means you must create a plan to reach your goal.

Step 2: create your plan

Obviously, you need a digital marketing plan. You need something written down. You should write it down because a written plan provides you with the clarity you need to overcome possible obstacles in your way. Otherwise, you will just act on instinct. The challenge is that our instincts are very often…wrong.

I’m as guilty of that as anyone else. There are times when I just want to go after it and do something exciting. Just to do stuff. I get that. We’re going to get to that in a second, but before you do that, have a plan or vision for your business.

Step 3: Execute your plan.

Once you finish your plan, I hope you don’t sit there and think about all the ways that you could fail or talk to 10 other people and find out what other options are available to you.

If your plan is too complicated or daunting that just means you need a simpler plan, so you can start acting today.

If you want to buy a restaurant and you can’t afford to buy a restaurant, then become a caterer. Cater people’s events, so you can raise money and find out if you even like aspects of owning a restaurant.

I was taking a Lyft last night after a networking event. My driver and I were both talking about how tired we were. I asked him, “What time did you get up?” It was around 9:00 O’clock.

For the record, I went to the networking event after I left my digital marketing job for the day. I get how time can be tight because I’m building my business like a lot of you on the side. I love what I’m doing, working for a nonprofit, but that’s off the topic.

He told me a similar story, “Well I work at a restaurant, and I drive this afterward.” I’m like, “Wow, that’s awesome!” I asked him, “What’s your goal? What do you want to do?”

He said, “I want to be able to open a restaurant.’ So I said, “That’s awesome. So are you married?” He said, “No. This extra money can help me with opening his restaurant.”

Every day he goes to this job at a restaurant downtown. He gets his paycheck and then he goes home. He lives all the way on the far north side of Chicago.

After he finishes and then he starts driving around for another four or five hours. It might take him a little while to achieve his dream, but he’s going for it. That’s what we must do. You take the small steps. You’re not going to do it overnight, but it’s okay. If you keep going at it, you will get to where you need to go.

Step 4: analyze your plan without getting hooked into analysis paralysis

Before we get to this step, let’s start by saying don’t start analyzing right away. You should be executing your plan for a good two to three months at least.

Here’s what’s going to happen. Let’s say your plan is to start blogging once a week to start building traffic for your real estate agency. Then you’re going to promote that blog on your social media channels, and maybe you’ll spend $50 to $100 a month on Google or Facebook ads to promote it.

That first month here, you’re going to be like, “Oh my God, no one loves me. It’s going to be so depressing.” That’s what happens. The first month that you’re going after your dream, you need to build it up.

People are like, “Who the heck is this guy?” They go to your blog and there are three posts on the site. Their gut reaction is, “I don’t really know. I’ll come back maybe another time.”

You need to keep digging in. Because those same people after two months have that familiar reaction to seeing your name. As they see your social media posts and as they say, “Oh, I saw him last month. He’s still doing stuff.”

They come back and hopefully sign up to your list. By month three, with a consistent plan, you can start building the traction.

Now, I know there are some people out there, like, ‘I’m going to do it faster,” and that’s great. If you can blog every day, and keep the quality of content, then do it.

When I first started, I blogged every day for three years to build my business. You will grow faster, but if you don’t have a lot of time because you need to work other parts of your business or you need to work a job, then take those small steps.

If you don’t see success right away, don’t stop. That’s why you need to wait two to three months before you analyze what you’re doing. Otherwise, you’ll get analysis paralysis, because you’ll say, “Oh my God, no one likes this. This doesn’t work.”

Of course, it doesn’t work after a month. Of course, what were you expecting? If you heard that someone started today and the next day they made $1 million dollars, they’re probably not telling you how this was their 25th company, and they built up a list in the previous 24 that allowed them to make $1 million dollars within seven days of starting this up.

That’s what a lot of those guys do it. Yeah, they started up their business and in two weeks they made $100,000. What they didn’t say was that before those two weeks, there were seven years of hard work.

By analyzing your results, you can see what you’re doing right. Maybe you discover that blogging is just not going to work for you.

You now have eight weeks of content to analyze. If you need help, then maybe you could start by repurposing that content.

Step 5: execute a revised plan.

Take that content you created. As long as you’re answering customers’ questions, you could then maybe put it into a podcast format, or a video.

Live video is really hot in the marketplace. You have the ability to repurpose that content into whatever you want. So keep looking at how to do it and make it better.

Avoid Analysis Paralysis with a Smart Plan Today

Just a quick recap:

• Step one, identify your goal.
• Step two, create a plan.
• Step three, execute your plan.
• Step four, analyze your plan after an appropriate time period.
• Step five, execute your revised plan.

Also, did you notice how two of the five steps in this plan focused on execution? That’s because execution, execution, execution is so fricking important.

I hope you understand the value of that statement. If you want to start executing on a successful plan today, let me help you. As a digital marketer with over a decade of experience, I understand how to help you create a laser-focused strategy that you can use to improve your business.

Schedule a free consultation at AndyNathan.Net/Schedule to overcome analysis paralysis today with a smart plan.