Benjamin Franklin, you know, the guy on the American $100 bill, oh, and famous author, publisher, inventor, scientist, and contributor to the Declaration of Independence? Well, he once said, “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”.
This wisdom has stood the test of time and remains ever so true in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape.
Marketing and sales have become non-negotiable for businesses in 2022. With barriers to entry being lower than ever, customer targeting becoming highly detailed, and the online world booming, it’s no secret a good marketing plan can do great things for your business.
So we pose the question, how’s your marketing plan for 2022 looking?
If your answer is “uhh, we don’t really have one”, continue reading for three key components you need in your plan. Remember, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”.
Neither is better than the other, but they both say very different things. One graces us with luxury and glamour, the other approaches us more humbly with affordable, accessible goods. To decide which one you want to be, you have to understand your positioning! Only then can you make your move.
To determine where your brand stands, let’s talk about perceptions.
How does your target audience perceive your brand?
Is it reliable? High-quality? Eco-friendly? Great value for money?
Whether you’re aware of it or not, customers think and feel certain things about your brand. It may be excitement, happiness, or not much at all. By defining your position you can work to create a communications strategy to position your brand where you want.
Take our client, Lander Metals, for example. In launching Lander as a brand, we ensured they are positioned as a solutions-oriented, premium sheet metal fabrication company currently offering garden design products in planter rings, boxes, and edging. To do this, we used clean lines, muted colour pattern and white spacing to communicate down-to-earth, quality and modern style.
How will you reach your audience?
What channels is your audience using?
What content will you create that resonates with your audience?
What’s the tone of your messaging?
How do you want to position your brand?
These are all questions which must be answered to establish an effective communications strategy.
To decide which channels to use, you must first understand where your audience’s attention is. You could have the greatest, most influential marketing campaign, but if you’re speaking to the wrong people you will waste both your time and money.
We call this tone of voice. How do you want to sound to your audience? Intelligent? Assertive? Casual? Witty?
What’s also important is determining how you DON’T want to sound to your audience. You may want to sound educated, but not ignorant. Eloquent, but not obnoxious. We’re sure you see the point.
How you sound to your audience plays a large role in how your brand is perceived by the consumer and therefore what they think about it and why they’d make a purchase.
Creating content focusing on a product’s Unique Selling Point (USP) will differentiate it from the market and entice consumers to purchase from your brand. If your product is the most durable on the market, pour your messaging efforts into that. After all, if your product is the most durable, yet you focus on how many colours it’s available in and other brand’s have more or better colours, you’re missing out on sales.
You’ve executed your marketing plan, now what? You need to evaluate its effectiveness. After all, your business is investing time and money so you’re going to want to see how it’s performing.
Having a process in place outlining the reporting procedure ensures everything is accounted for; social engagement, sales, email opens and clicks, website visits, and page duration are among an endless list of other data points.
Data is everywhere, you can get numbers from anything. It’s knowing which are the important ones, and how to draw useful insights and recommendations where the value lies.
On top of the report are recommendations. Now you know the numbers, it’s important to use them! By reviewing and analysing your report you can make adjustments to grow and evolve your business and product offering.
We understand this may seem like a lot of information/work and the truth is, it is. Slap a plan together in 10 minutes and hit the ground running, or, dedicate hours to diving deep into a detailed plan? Your results will be a reflection of your efforts.
This is where Beans come in.
Marketing is what we do. The Bean team are marketing strategists and planning specialists who work with businesses to create smart processes, beautiful marketing materials and sales magic!
If you’re looking for outside-the-box thinkers to take marketing off your plate so you can feast on what matters most to you, we can help.
Let us do the thinking for you.
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