How to Plan Your Marketing for the Upcoming Year

Inside the business world, life moves at a fast and forward-moving pace. The goals you may have set for your business at the beginning of the year likely have shifted greatly based on the economic and political climate.

At times, it can be difficult to properly prioritize what’s of the highest importance, not only short-term, but long-term for your business. Many businesses are tasked with determining customer strategy, understanding staffing needs, and developing budgets well before the year even begins.

When it comes to the overall business strategy, it can be common for businesses to neglect their marketing plan or determine it is not of the highest importance. However, making a strong and sustainable marketing plan for the upcoming year will not only set your business apart but will also move other aspects surrounding your business forward.

It will be highly beneficial for your business to follow this list of critical steps to take when planning your marketing for the upcoming year.

Defining Purpose

You need to effectively determine the “why” behind your business. Once you determine the “why” or the purpose behind your business, the next step includes determining how you want to communicate this to your target audience. Creating a list of your core company values and beliefs will help define your company’s direction. Doing so will help you create a brand image that you can effectively utilize and market to your clients.

Build a Strong Marketing Strategy

Behind every great businessperson is an idea and behind every great business is a plan. This plan extends to every facet of the business, including marketing.

An effective marketing strategy can provide benefits such as:

• An increased local and global influence.
• Lower costs for your business.
• Impactful lead generation and lead harvesting.
• Help your business to narrow down your target market.
• Allows for variation of ideas and strategies to best fit your business needs.

Now that you understand the importance of an effective marketing strategy, it is critical to understand the key components of what your marketing strategy should entail:

• An extensive overview from the previous year
• Determine company goals and key objectives
• Deep market analysis
• Market segmentation/target audience
• In-depth research of top competitors
• Communication and brand elements
• Marketing channel distribution

Implementation of your Marketing Plan

The marketing plan comes to fruition when implementation moves to the forefront. Your marketing plan is based on the quality and deliverables of your marketing strategy.

During this stage, you are determining and establishing the execution of your marketing strategy. This consists of:

• Refining and implementing your marketing goals.
• Determining how your business will measure success for your marketing initiatives.
• Understanding how to adjust your marketing plan based on variable and fixed factors.

Readjustment

One of the biggest and easily missed steps in a marketing plan is the lack of follow-up. Although you’ve spent a lot of time and resources creating a strong marketing plan to start the year, that does not mean it is going to work throughout the year. It is important to constantly readjust and reevaluate what is going right and what is going wrong inside of a marketing strategy.

If you have found your business at an impasse while creating your marketing strategy, reach out to the marketing experts at Next Level Marketing Communications. We can provide you with a free consultation and discuss what an effective marketing plan could look like for your business.