Collective: Track, Review, Update
NOW is the time to be reviewing your Marketing Plan vs. Performance. As we enter the last quarter, it’s time to assess your Marketing ROI and update your strategy for 2023. It’s easy to get bogged down on the ‘end of year’ hype and deadlines; however, too many organisations leave their planning to the new year and realistically lose the first quarter before anything is activated.
Sound familiar?
Every year in business is different and throws us new challenges (and haven’t we seen that over the past 3 years), so it’s crucial to review the year that was, and focus on what’s important for next year so that you can have strategies in place to deal with whatever the universe throws at you!
So, how do we create and maintain sustained brand growth while negotiating road bumps?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Where did you spend your money and what were the results?
- Did you achieve your objectives?
- Where did the best sales/ leads come from?
- Are sales and marketing aligned?
- What were the variables? Has the market landscape changed?
- Was there a focus on short term tactical sales together with activities to stimulate loyalty and long-term brand equity growth?
If you find any of these questions difficult to answer, it may be because you didn’t develop a solid marketing plan to start with, or don’t have tracking systems and processes in place.
New Plan
Don’t run the risk of assuming your current marketing strategy will be relevant for 2023. You don’t need to rewrite your Business & Marketing plans each year; however, you should review and update them to ensure the strategy is still correct and allows for any unforeseen changes in the organisation.
External Factors
“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”. Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, wrote those words more than 200 years ago. He meant that even if you try your best to make a plan, things may still not turn out as you expected.
There’s a multitude of external factors that can affect business operations, and in marketing terms we need to be adaptable to change to stay relevant and achieve the set goals.
e.g.
- Product supply issues
- Competitor activity
- Consumer behaviour buying changes
- Topical industry issues
A good marketing plan will have room for movement, allow for quick changes and have the ability to leverage opportunities in the marketplace.
Here are our tips on structuring a new plan for 2023:
- Brand Equity – focus on overall brand awareness, stimulating brand loyalty and creating brand ambassadors
- Tactical activities – lead generation, sales and conversion
- Innovation and Growth – where are the future opportunities
Your strategy should address ALL 3 areas above to maximise your success for both short- and long-term brand growth.
Hit the ground running early in 2023. If you’d like help in reviewing your marketing plans or with execution, contact our team for a confidential chat.