When you review your marketing plan is there a connection between your brand strategy and your marketing plan?Getting clear about your brand is one of the first steps we need to take as we develop and grow our professional services practice. But without a focused marketing plan, we certainly will not be able to realise the benefit of investing in developing our business strategy nor will we build a distinctive brand.Here are 3 steps you can use to evaluate how brand centric your marketing plan is:1. Bring your vision to lifeAs you develop your marketing plan, do you have clarity about the vision and mission for your business? With an inspiring vision that is clear and compelling, you will have a road map against which you can chart your progress in building your brand.Ensure that your vision for your business is documented and understood by your team members and business partners. Engage them in the part they can play to bring the vision to life so that you connect their roles and accountabilities to the overall direction of the business.Evaluate your marketing plan against your vision – does your marketing plan support the delivery of your vision? What changes do you need to make to ensure that you are on-track and bringing your vision to life?2. Build your brand from the inside out and the outside inYour brand is not a logo, a tag line, your marketing materials or the colour or style of font that you use. Nor is it your advertising or marketing communications plan.Yes these are ways to express your brand, however strong brands not only embrace how you the brand owner wants to position your brand; they also embrace what your customers, consumers and potential clients think and feel about doing business with you.As you consider your marketing plan, consider if the actions you are proposing will support or detract from your brand essence. Does your marketing plan help you build your brand in the hearts and minds of your ideal clients? Or will it leave them bemused with the actions you are taking rather than building an aligned community around your brand?3. Chart your successWe all know the power of goals and charting our progress towards them. So why is it that we find it a challenge to determine our goals for our business?Very often we can get consumed with day to day activities and before we know it another quarter of the year has passed.Determining key metrics for your business, ideally on one page, so that it is easy for your recall and review each month to track your success. As you determine the key measures, make sure that they support your brand strategy.Then review your goals every 30, 90 and 180 days using a simple traffic light system so that you know what is on track (identify these areas green) and where priority action is required (identify these areas as red).Evaluate your marketing plan against these three steps to ensure that it is going to support you in building your brand and delivering your business strategy.Then consider what one action you could take in the next 30 days that you demonstrably enhance your current success.