Happy Annual Planning Season to all who celebrate! It’s October, which is practically the end of fall, realistically already Thanksgiving and literally the conclusion of 2024. You marketers know what we mean. Regardless of whether you are sipping your first pumpkin latte or blasting Christmas carols … there is no denying that annual marketing strategy planning season is here!
In this Blog:
- Poll your people
- Revisit and reshape
- Define your destination
As momentum builds from now through the new year and deadlines feel like they are whizzing by, we strongly encourage you not to just save the “2024 Marketing Plan” as “2025 Marketing Plan.” If you’re being honest, not everything you did this year worked. Some messages didn’t resonate. The impact of your community presence wasn’t equally felt across your market. Audiences were reached at varying frequencies, and it didn’t fully align with the business initiatives.
That’s not to say you didn’t create marketing magic or even reach your goals, but was it perfect? The most effective and efficient? Did it inspire your customers to take action? Marketing is equal parts science and art. Good marketers look at data, metrics and trends along with sentiment, customer feedback and company culture to build strategies that maximize resources, drive results and build brand recognition.
If you are feeling stuck in “copy + paste” mode, here are three ways to hit reset:
Poll your people
Intentionally gather feedback. Set aside time to meet with individuals from different pockets of the organization both in department and responsibility. It’s important to consider perspectives and experiences outside of your marketing bubble. Here are some questions to generate productive conversations around marketing efforts:
- Ask customer-facing team members, “What are the top 3 questions you get asked by our customers?”
- Ask your most seasoned employees, “What do you wish everyone knew about our organization?”
- Ask your customers, “What did we do/say/prove that influenced your decision to choose us?”
It takes a certain level of vulnerability to seek out feedback, but the return on reflection always exceeds the investment of your time.
Revisit and reshape
When is the last time you refined your target audiences? This includes demographic, psychographic and geographic qualifiers as well as behavioral targeting and general media consumption distinctions. Yes, you may still cater to a female consumer, but if you are still lumping all Women 25-54 into one bucket, then you may be missing key opportunities. Look at your customer data from social media, purchasing history and/or your CRM to determine who is currently engaging with you. If the current customer doesn’t align with your ideal customer, then it may be time to reshape your communications strategy.
What current products or services are or aren’t customers choosing? Do you know why? Are you launching a new product or service? Perhaps your creative and messaging need a refresh. Maybe there is an emerging neighborhood you want to prioritize in 2025. Not every tactic fits every target, so if the who has changed, the how might also need to change.
Here are three fresh WHO + HOW digital pairings to consider for 2025:
- Young Professionals, Adults 18-29 + LinkedIn for B2C advertising
- Busy Moms, Women 30-44 + Short-form Video (<:30 seconds)
- Retirees, Adults 65-75 + YouTube pre-roll before DIY project tutorials
Define the destination
And lastly, make sure your vision for 2025 is written clearly. You can’t build a marketing plan to take your organization forward if you don’t know where you’re trying to go. A solid marketing and communications (MARCOM) plan will support the overarching goals of the organization and include tactics that align with your brand and culture. Knowing where you want to be at this time next year is the first step of charting your course.
This vision should include:
- Who will be responsible for monitoring your marketing activities as you progress towards your defined goals? What does accountability look like within your team?
- What metrics will you use to define success?
- What is Plan B and how will you know it’s time to implement it?
Finally, taking a fresh, critical look at your annual marketing strategy is not necessarily about making wholesale changes or blowing up the parts that are generating results. Rather, it is about ensuring that you know what is working, what isn’t working, and where you can level-up your strategy for even better outcomes.
Happy Planning … and let us be the first to wish you a Happy New Year!
