As I was developing the contents of this guide I thought, "Gosh, this guide sounds simple, but I hope people don't get overwhelmed with the commitment."

I've been in the marketing profession for a while, so most of this is second nature to me. I already know how to organize myself and my marketing campaigns. For someone new, creating a marketing outline, budget, or plan, might seem daunting. Let's try to simplify things.

How do you eat an elephant?

Take all of your planned campaigns, ad buys, social media initiatives, blog posts and all things that fit into your marketing plan and put them into a calendar.

Decide in advance when you are going to post something on Facebook or Twitter. What you are going to say, and who you are going to say it to. Decide when you are going to run a specific radio spot or print ad in the newspaper.

Create daily, weekly, and monthly timelines to break up your entire marketing plan into small, manageable, and actionable items. Creating timelines will help you keep track of where you are and what is coming up next. It will also help you with budgeting.