The transition to a new calendar year marks a natural moment for organizations to reflect on what worked and didn’t work in the previous 12 months. It also represents an ideal time to look forward and consider the year ahead.
Giving yourself the space and time to build an integrated marketing plan for 2022 is a perfect way to lay the groundwork for a successful year. Mapping out a marketing plan for the new year will ensure that you consider your marketing needs and opportunities with clear eyes and approach them with strategic focus. Otherwise, you will risk moving forward with the kind of outdated strategy and misguided tactics that lead to underwhelming results. At Fryed Egg, we can help you reevaluate your marketing approach and build a new plan for your new reality.
Looking backward
Before planning ahead, it usually helps to consider your past. When you look at the previous year’s marketing efforts, what was successful? What seemed to land flat with your intended audiences? Consider why they may have worked or not worked – how can you build on the successes and fix the misfires? Are there audiences that you failed to reach or tools you failed to capitalize on? What’s the current perception of your brand? It’s important not only to consider your marketing efforts, but your overall organization, too. How has it changed – and how does that impact what your marketing strategy needs to accomplish? Where did it excel and struggle – and what role did marketing play in either?
Building a plan
A robust marketing plan will comprise an array of key elements. Some of those elements include: new market research, your target audience, your business goals, your marketing goals and objectives, tasks to support those goals and objectives, key messages, a suggested timeline or calendar for executing those tasks, a budget with dedicated resources identified, and key performance indicators and how they will be measured and reported. The more focused and integrated your marketing plan is, the better chance that you will have for success. Your goals should be clear and succinct whenever possible. The more scattered your approach, the more elusive success will be.
Follow through
An annual marketing plan will do little good if it gets set aside and forgotten. Too many organizations spend time and money to build plans that they then ignore. Instead of behaving strategically, they approach marketing in a more reactive fashion. Then, when the year is over and they pull out that dusty marketing plan, they’re surprised at the many ways they drifted astray. However, that doesn’t mean your marketing plan should be a strict edict for your approach to the year. Adjusting to market conditions and new opportunities is crucial, and your marketing plan should allow room for flexibility. Just don’t throw out the plan when you do it. Instead, make your adjustments with the plan in mind.
At Fryed Egg, we develop comprehensive, integrated marketing strategies to build and strengthen brands. We can help you pinpoint what makes your organization special, diving deep into your values and vision, and make sure that your brand reflects that with an integrated marketing approach that audiences remember. If you want to see if Fryed Egg is the right agency for your marketing needs, contact us at (813) 478-0494 or [email protected] or visit www.FryedEgg.com.