Inspiration

Back in May we created a blog around how you should sell in a Covid world. Well this time we are changing the emphasis. With positivity beginning to sweep the nation around the potential roadmap towards a world of normality, we wanted to continue in that very vain.

In this blog, we are looking forward and more specifically looking forward to your marketing plans for the next financial year. And you don’t have to be a marketing genius to see a difference either. Just take note of these simple pointers and you will reap the rewards.

Have a plan

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. A message we’ve used in many of our blogs but it’s a message what really does need reinforcing.

Whether its sales, marketing, production or any other part of a business. You need to have detailed plans in place in order to carry out your activities efficiently and successfully. Don’t fall at the first hurdle.

Firstly. Its time to reflect. As mentioned, in this blog we want to look forward. But to move forward sometimes you need to reflect on the past and learn from it.

When mapping out your yearly marketing plan you need to ask yourself some questions. Is there anything you have done differently in this last year? If so. How has it gone? How does the ROI compare to the marketing activities you have done before? If you are getting value out of it. Keep doing it. Its that’s simple. If it didn’t work at all, don’t be scared to shelve it and move on.

Be realistic as well. Don’t try and do too much. Its very common for marketeers to have loads of great ideas but then ultimately, they don’t have the time to roll out of these ideas effectively. Resulting in the ‘I’m trying to do that much, I’m doing nothing’ statement.

Be clear. Be precise. Be definitive. Map out a yearly plan where your marketing campaigns are clearly stagnated alongside your monthly and weekly content plans. This will be your foundation.

Don’t abandon content!

Content is king. Make sure you remember that.

Over the last 12 months the landscape of the world has changed hasn’t it? And that is no different in marketing either. With face to face communication like events and exhibitions being a thing of the past over the last year and budgets also tightened, many businesses have looked at content marketing as a budget friendly, covid proof way of marketing their products and/or services online.

Is this something your business has adopted? Keep doing it! Trust me.

Content marketing is a phenomenon in marketing which is showing no signs of slowing down with its influence growing by the day. For starters. Customers are 5 times more dependent on content today than they were 10 years ago.

A very high percentage of your customers go to the web to find you. In fact statistics show that 70-90% of the buyers journey is complete before they engage with you. Ask yourself this, if you aren’t creating content for the web how are future customers going to find you? They aren’t are they.

What content should I be doing I hear you ask? There is so much. From social media, to blogs, to video content, to the creation of white papers and much more. You can’t do it all, so find out what works for you and be consistent with it.

Top tip: create content to answer the questions your customers are asking.

Keep on learning

Every day is a school day. Is a term which is so true when it comes to marketing.

You may think ‘why?’. Well.  The marketing world is evolving like you wouldn’t believe. The technological environment we surround ourselves in means there is new developments every day.

New apps. More sophisticated platforms. New analysis software. You name it, there will be a better more efficient way to do it in 2022 than there is today. That is guaranteed. Its up to you to make sure you keep on top of this and don’t pay the ultimate price of falling behind the competition. You want to do the exact opposite in fact. Stay ahead of the competition.

So. Keep your eyes peeled. Take part in CPD’s and webinars which could be of use!

Whether it’s a webinar promoted on LinkedIn, or emails coming into your inbox which you’d usually discard, if it’s a learning opportunity which could help improve your marketing, don’t be frightened to attend! After all, one thing a covid world has brought is an easy way of attending events without moving from your desk!

Adding Value

Support don’t sell. Has been a message we have seen time and time again over the last 12 months.

Pushy salesman have not been flavour of the month in this time of struggle. And its safe to say it’s got marketeers thinking too.

As outlined in a top tip earlier, creating content around your customers needs, in other words answering their questions to google has become more and more important for SEO in recent times and this is now transcending to wider marketing communications.

Bragging about your product in your communications really isn’t going to cut the mustard in todays world. You need to put yourself in the customers shoes. The customer is the important one. You are not.

What is in it for them? How are you making their life easier? What value are you adding to their life? We’re asking ourselves questions again aren’t we. But these are all key questions you should be asking yourself when you’re creating your marketing campaign. It should form the focus.

And there is our top marketing pointers for the next 12 months. Enjoyed the read? You can check out others blog we have written here: https://www.williamsmith.co.uk/blog. 

If you want to learn more about what we do, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing us at info@williamsmith.co.uk.