With 2017 just around the corner, businesses are already thinking about the marketing and public relations strategies and plans they will implement to ensure growth in the upcoming year. From advertising to interactive services, to social media and branding, planning can be daunting. But with the right tools and game plan, your 2017 plan can help you achieve success and meet all your goals. Here are a few tips to help get you started:
How did you do last year and what would you like to see next year? – Before you start looking at what you would like to achieve next year, consider how 2016 played out and use that as a road map. What went well? What didn’t? Why? Were your marketing goals achievable? Did you set up a PR strategy that engaged your audience and led to results? Where do you want to go next year? Have your goals changed?
Understand your customer base – Customers are increasingly business saavy. With all the marketing they encounter on a daily basis, they have also become much more discerning to what they pay attention to as well as how they allocate their time in researching brands and products. By understanding your customer’s needs and how they engage, you can build a strategy that invites them to not only participate in the conversation, but build an effective emotional connection with your brand.
Interactive tools and resources – Once you have a strategy, you need to ensure you are able to implement it. Is your social media set up to convey your messaging? Does your website reflect the look and feel of your business? Having a great message is only as good as how it is delivered. Other aspects that affect the efficacy of your message are timing, audience reach and method of delivery. This is where interactive tools like blogs, web pages and e-mails should be carefully considered and scheduled on an ongoing basis.
Re-evaluate – Now you have your plan for next year, great! But the work is only half done. How will you make sure your plan is still relevant midyear? Or that the results are what you predicted? Make sure you set dates throughout the year to re-evaluate your plan. Assess if you are where you predicted you would be. If you are not, why? Trends move fast, and forming a plan only once a year is not enough. Look at current trends every few months and update your plan accordingly.
Need help making your 2017 marketing, advertising and branding plan the most successful one yet? Whether you have already started working on it, or are just thinking about it, now is the time! Oster and Associates can help you. Contact us today.