Create An Online Marketing Bucket List – What Would You Do If Your Marketing Plan Options Were Limitless?

When it comes to your marketing, the options are limitless.

Have you ever caught yourself saying, “If only we’d had more time/money/resources we could have knocked that project out of the park!”?

Some marketers are great at brainstorming great ideas and have trouble implementing, while others are more task oriented and have a hard time seeing the big picture.  Whether you relate to one of the two types mentioned above or fall somewhere in the middle there is always an opportunity for growth and discovery.

Often we can find ourselves getting caught up in the day-to-day minutiae of completing tasks related to our structured marketing programs. While creating an executable and realistic content plan is an essential part of implementing a successful marketing strategy, I think there is another very important and often overlooked option as well.

A few months ago I started putting together what I call my “Internet Marketing Bucket List”.  This list is constantly growing and is a compilation of marketing tactics and ideas that I want to execute but may not be realistic right now.  I’ve found that this exercise accomplishes a few objectives:

• Central place to store ideas & concepts
• A great creative outlet
• Helps me think outside the box

In this post I have included tips for drafting your own list, as well as some questions to get you started.  Time to begin thinking about what you would include on your very own Marketing Bucket List!

Start Brainstorming & Documenting Your Ideas

One of the toughest parts about creating this list is getting something down.  If you’re like me, sometimes you have to be in the right creative frame of mind to work on this type of project.  Don’t worry about creating the whole list at once.  I continue to add marketing items to my list whenever I think of them.  A few additional tips would include:

• Write everything down, even if you think it might be a bad idea
• Include ideas you think are realistic and those that may seem like a long shot
• “Borrow” ideas from other companies

Don’t Limit Yourself

Depending on your role, you may be responsible for a segment of marketing, or marketing as a whole.  Say you’re responsible for social media but also have some ideas that would lend themselves to a content marketing plan, get it down. What are the benefits of thinking outside your job function?

• You can become a resource for other team members
• A unique or perspective can often solve a difficult problem
• Your value as an employee can dramatically increase if you think outside the box

Collaborate & Share Your Ideas

Some people like to organize all of their thoughts and have a structured plan before sharing ideas with anyone else.  I on the other hand prefer to bounce ideas off of my team as I’m jotting down ideas.  Who knows that small conversation may spark additional ideas.

The Marketing Bucket List is not a project that has to be completed on your own.  Perhaps you have a weekly or monthly team meeting and could use a portion of the time allocated to brainstorm with your fellow employees.

15 Questions to Jumpstart Your Marketing Bucket List

Below I have listed some questions you can ask yourself to jumpstart the creative juices and begin your very own bucket list.

1. How are you going to store the information? (I use Google Docs)
2. What are some small tactics you could implement today but simply don’t have the time?
3. What are some bigger ideas that may not be possible to implement with current budget and resources?
4. If money were no object what sort of campaigns or events would you like to have?
5. Can you find examples of marketing that you appreciate from other companies, even if they are competitors?
6. What tactics have you always wanted to try but have been too timid to move forward with?
7. What sort of marketing inspires you as a consumer or purchaser?
8. Who do you think would be the best target market for your marketing ideas?
9. What is something you’ve implemented before that didn’t work as well as you had anticipated?
10. What would you have done differently?
11. Who would be a good person within your organization to discuss your marketing ideas with?
12. Are there areas within your field that you need additional education on? (social media, email marketing, blog writing, press releases, etc.)
13. Is there a skill or area of marketing that you’ve mastered and want to share with the rest of your team?
14. What is your end goal with implementing these new tactics?
15. Can you estimate what the ROI would be for your company?

The best advice I can give is not to over-think what you’re writing down.  Keep your Marketing Bucket List in a location that is easy to access at your desk or on the go.  You never know when a good idea might pop up.  As you work through your list cross of those you’ve been able to complete, and add additional ideas as needed.

If you’re looking for some input or want to take this conversation further please feel free to comment on this post or connect with our team via Twitter: @TopRank, @AZeckman.