Don’t fall into the trap of following marketing tactics without a clear plan this year. While we are still living in a rapidly changing world, a robust strategy to underpin your marketing efforts will allow you to make the best decisions with your available resources and achieve your goals.
Over the last two years we’ve learnt the importance of being able to quickly adapt to changes. Although the importance of effective online communication is far from new, it’s becoming increasingly critical as more and more of our interactions take place digitally. As we enter the third year of the pandemic, we’re beginning to see businesses who have previously been hesitant to adopt the remote work model warm up to its commonplace.
If you haven’t got your 2022 marketing plan down pat, what are you doing? A clear path forward will ensure you can respond quickly and lead change in a productive way.
Review your 2021 efforts
Did you achieve your business objectives last year, or are you falling short? Review your marketing efforts to determine how to propel your business forward.
While each business has differing priorities, consider the following areas to prompt a productive review.
Strategy
Have you got long term goals that you need support in achieving? Are you looking to expand, increase earnings, work with new clients, or broaden product and service offering?
- Do you understand who you are talking to and where to find them?
- Have you got a presence where it counts?
- Are you clearly articulating your brand proposition?
- Have you set KPIs, identified cost-effective marketing channels and determined how you are tracking results?
It’s not as intimidating as it sounds! Set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and anchored within a Time Frame.
Determine your budget. You’ll know what you can afford and be able to make the right decisions, quickly.
Tenders
Are you winning work? Better still, are you winning the right work?
When it comes to tenders, you need a proposal that matches your professionalism. Your fact-checking and proofreading must be meticulous. Your concepts must be inspired, and your presentation must be impactful.
We know it’s hard work, but when you get it right the rewards are huge.
Digital content
Is your content solving pain points for your customers? Is your content generating leads?
Audit your content for consistency and efficacy. It may include website content, EDMs, e-newsletters, social media, content marketing, mobile and device applications, and SEO (search engine optimisation).
Design/brand assets
You don’t know what you don’t know, just like a fish doesn’t know it’s in water.
A fresh set of eyes will provide an objective overview to carefully examine all touchpoints for consistency and effectiveness. It’s best to engage an outsider for this one – better still, a brand consultant.
Brand: when your brand assets are not a strength, they are a weakness.
Are all touchpoints clear, consistent and on-brand? Over time, your resources can become disjointed and outdated.
Facility: your workplace is an extension of your brand. When done right, it energises and unifies employees and visitors with a sense of pride. Read more on this in our recent blog about the impact of facilities branding.
Templates: are your templates making your life easier or harder? Good templates will streamline your workflow, instill professionalism and improve brand consistency.
Events: event marketing is an incredible way to network and build your community. If you haven’t previously included events in your marketing strategy, be sure explore the opportunity it could provide.
Make it happen!
What will it take to achieve your objectives? Think about how you can stay accountable when client work gets busy. Have you got the resources to make it happen? If not, we can help.
We can provide training with practical steps to help you improve branding, messaging, tender submissions, social media, and writing. Sessions are bookended with clearly defined objectives and provide takeaway guides so you can easily remember your new skills long after you leave.
Get in touch today to discuss how we can make it happen for you in 2022.
Recent Comments