It’s time to start planning next year’s marketing plan, that moment that some marketers dread. The challenges facing marketers in 2024 are multifaceted. Consumer behaviour is shifting, technology is advancing at breakneck speed, and the competition is fiercer than ever.
In order to thrive in this environment, your marketing plan must not only be comprehensive but also nimble, capable of adjusting to the ever-changing landscape.
So, where do you start?
Creating an effective marketing plan for the next year begins with a deep dive into your current marketing landscape. You will likely have some knowledge already of what we’re covering in this initial step, but it’s still essential to have a comprehensive understanding of what has happened over the last 12 months.
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1. Review. Review. Review.
Before jumping into your new marketing plan, take time to review your old plans. Check in on how 2022 went for you, review past goals, results and ask yourself some key questions:
Did you reach your previous goals, if not, why?
What strategies did you try? Did they all work? If not, what didn’t work?
Were you missing a specific resource which could have improved your results?
Does your website work? Do you need a new website?
The deeper you dig into your overall reporting from the past year the easier it will be to assess your KPIs and the success of them. If you need further insight, try breaking down the data into quarters, Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.
2. Conduct A Marketing Audit
If you're unsure how to begin reviewing your marketing plans or if you don't have any in place to refer to, consider conducting a marketing audit.
A marketing audit identifies the biggest strengths and weaknesses of your current strategy. It highlights what plans, processes, and practices are most effective at meeting goals. Just as importantly, it builds a foundation for future decision-making by identifying opportunities, gaps, and areas for improvement.
It's helpful to break the audit into specific areas, such as a website audit, branding audit, social media audit, and SEO audit.
While conducting audits may feel time consuming, they are essential for providing your team with the foundational insights needed for improved customer connections, stronger branding, and better results.
3. Assess Your Target Market And Current Audience
Your target market sets the tone for your entire marketing strategy — from how you develop and name your products or services right through to the marketing channels you use to promote them.
In an ever-changing world, it’s more important now than ever to know your target market so you can craft tailored strategies. As your business evolves and grows, your audience may pivot slightly, expand or lessen.
Ask yourself, is your target market the same as you planned last year? Has it shifted?
Is it time to expand your market?
Does your target audience align with the current target market? If not, it’s time to adjust and improve to fit within your current business model.
You must keep a check on this, it could be the key to taking your business to the next level.
4. Set New Goals And Business Objectives
Ultimately everyone wants their business to be more successful, but that’s not enough to drive sales. A key element of your strategic marketing planning is to set specific goals based on your company’s current needs.
This will change depending on the stage your business is at. A start-up business may set goals based on growth and awareness whereas a well-established business may focus on campaigns to improve sales. Whatever the goal, it’s essential they are specific and actionable to support your business objectives, aligning with your marketing plan. The more detailed, the better.
Follow Donald Miller’s framework when setting your goals -
1. Revenue Goal (not profit, just revenue)
Ask yourself these questions to help you establish a clear revenue goal:
How much money do I need to live on?
How much money would I like for investments?
How much money would i like to have for generosity and giving
Put this one in a draw - you don't reach revenue goals by reviewing revenue goals, you reach revenue goals by reviewing your qualified leads and product and service goals. If you set appropriate lead goals revenue will take care of itself.
2. Qualified Leads Goal
Donald Miller notes that a qualified lead meets the following three criteria…
They have a problem your product or service will solve
They are able to afford your product or service
They have the authority to buy your product or service
Create a list of criteria that qualifies leads so you can move them into a story that solves their problem and changes their lives.
Example goals for capturing qualified leads:
Networking contacts - 10 per week - 120 total/year
Online assessment lead generator - 40 per week - 480 total/year
Conducting sales conversations - 10 per week - 120 total/year
3. Product Sold Goal
Product goals represent the crucial accomplishments needed to make your vision a reality. They highlight how the product is going to support the business and are often stepping stones to accelerating business growth.
You might think that when you have your product goals and initiatives defined, you do not need a detailed product roadmap as well. However, a product roadmap or product menu acts as a communication tool — to share progress to internal teams and external stakeholders.
Example coaching product goals:
Introductory Strategic Assessment - 24 clients @ £199 per client
Small Business Community Group - 24 clients @ £249 per client per month
Sales training workshop - 4 clients - £2,500 per workshop
5. Determine KPIs
After setting your goals it’s time to assign relevant KPIs to each of them. This will enable you to measure the success of each goal accurately.
A KPI (Key performance indicator) must be quantifiable to successfully track progress and measure the data. Remember, if created appropriately they can help you prioritize, focus, and scale processes toward your goals.
6. Set A Budget
As part of the planning process of setting clear goals and objectives, there is likely to be an expenditure to accompany them. It’s a good idea to plan ahead for this. Consider carefully what goals will need a budget, to achieve the assigned KPIs. Understand the roadmap ahead to maintain financial stability in the next year. PS – If your business is growing, it’s likely your budget will too.
7. Choose And Schedule Marketing Activity
Now it’s time to combine the actions above and implement effective marketing plans and campaigns to achieve your goals. Make sure you cover all essential touchpoints over multiple platforms as you develop your plans.
To execute and keep track of your plans build a marketing plan and break it down in to the four quarters. It may seem obvious but sometimes it can be considered less of a priority. It’s not. Planning ahead will give you full visibility of all marketing activities and events allowing you to be prepared and ready for scheduled campaigns.
8. Develop A Plan To Measure Success
Measuring your performance is key to optimising any process. Set recurring dates to check in with your team, share data to better evaluate performance and track what works, what doesn’t and spot areas for improvement.
Creating a detailed, relevant and ambitious plan for your business is both an essential and valuable process.
If you need help with auditing your existing marketing activity or developing a new marketing plan for 2024, get in touch - david@hellosocialavenue.com
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