Creating A Marketing Plan With Mike Allton

Not all that long ago, a typical marketing plan probably would have included elements such as newspaper, magazine, or radio ads, and, if your budget allowed for it, maybe a television commercial or a giant billboard.

Skip a few years down the road, and we see a drastically different landscape. Now you can choose from Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and many other social media platforms. If all of these options have left you feeling a little dizzy, this week’s episode of the Manly Pinterest Tips Show can help to restore your equilibrium.

Enter Mike Allton, this week’s marketing plan guru, to remove some of the mystery from marketing on social media. He’s got plenty to say about how some of the up and coming changes on Pinterest will revolutionize the way it can be used as a digital marketing tool. He also offers some useful tips on how to get started with a marketing plan, how to track it’s success, and how to decide if it needs to be altered.

He speaks from experience. Mike’s love of writing about blogging and social media lead naturally into his work at The Social Media Hat, a resource for small businesses and organizations which he began in 2012. He maintains a blog and article archive there to provide information on various marketing topics. Mike also serves as the Brand Evangelist for Agorapulse, one of the best all-in-one social media management tools available.

I actually use AgoraPulse myself and here’s why:

Navigating the world of digital marketing can be tricky, especially since the “digital marketing landscape” is constantly changing. Mike loves to teach others how to better leverage the internet and content to promote their business. He provides articles and guidance on how to create blog and other content that helps increase website traffic, generate leads, and convert those leads into sales.

Watch this week’s episode of the Manly Pinterest Tips Show to hear Mike weigh in on why change can be a good thing and what you can do to develop and implement a marketing plan that works.

Here’s the link to Mike’s e-book that mentioned during the interview – Have A Game Plan For Your Marketing

Here’s a list of questions we discussed:

• What is the back story on how you got started in Social Media and eventually ended up at Site Sell? (1:33)
• What are your thoughts on the partnership between Tailwind and Hootsuite? (3:00)
• Which is a better option: scheduling through Buffer or Tailwind? (4:08)
• Do you think it’s a good or a bad thing that more people will be scheduling pins instead of pinning organically? (6:20)
• What do you think about the “Buy it Now” button on Pinterest? (8:24)
• What exactly is a marketing plan? (13:22)
• Why is it important for businesses to have a marketing plan? What’s the end result? (13:40)
• Digital marketing vs. traditional marketing: is there a difference? (14:34)
• How do you educate people about digital marketing vs. traditional marketing? (17:00)
• What is the “digital marketing landscape”? (18:03)
• When creating a marketing plan, do you think I’ve got to make a marketing plan for all the platforms, or do I pick the ones where I think I’ll get the most bang for my buck? (19:20)
• What do you recommend for people to do to get started on creating a marketing plan that will work for them? (22:27)
• Once I’ve implemented a marketing plan, how do I track if my plan is working? (24:38)
• What are some tools you use for tracking? (28:49)
• For people who are just getting started, would you recommend using, like, Google UTM tracking codes to set up some really simple campaigns? (30:07)
• Is it alright to pivot my marketing plan? (31:00)
• How long do you recommend waiting to see if your marketing plan is working out? (32:17)
• What if I’m on social media and I get bad reviews? (38:21)
• Do you have any advice for guys who are just getting started out on Pinterest? (38:19)

Thanks For Watching And Listening!

I really appreciate you joining me for this week’s episode.  Have questions or comments?  Leave a message in the comment section below!

If you’ve enjoyed the show, please share it using the buttons at the top or bottom of the page.

Also, please leave an honest review for The Manly Pinterest Tips Podcast on iTunes!  Ratings and reviews mean a ton to podcasters and I would really appreciate it.  They matter in how iTunes ranks the show and I honestly do read every one of them.

If you’d like to learn more about a certain topic or have something you’d like me to talk about during the show, feel free to contact me.

Thanks to Mike for being such a great guest.  See you for the next episode where we’ll be adding testosterone, one pin at a time!