If you haven’t already, a new year is an excellent time to put together a new business marketing strategy.
You can plan out your company’s focus points, key messages and content, so you have a clear vision for coming months.
The most important bit is actually achieving the goals that you outline within your strategy. So to help you do exactly that, here are four ways to ensure you get those tactics implemented it this year.
Set a clear plan and share it with your team
To start with the obvious. Have a really clear plan of action and share it with your team. It’s not rocket science, but once you’ve got everyone on the same page, you make it a lot easier for each person to contribute.
Everyone needs to know what the business marketing strategy is and why, along with what their role is in helping to achieve each goal. Each small action can lead to big results, so work together as a team! It’s more rewarding that way too.
Work to a timeline
Set yourself a timeline that outlines exactly when you’d like to achieve each marketing goal. Consider how much time, realistically, each of the plans will need, and who will take the lead on them.
The timeline can include dates for:
- Organising, planning, and drafting content
- Contacting and working with third parties
- Publishing dates
- Evaluating results
- Implementing feedback or changes
We currently map out our projects in Asana. It’s a really useful tool which allows us to collaborate internally, and share live marketing plans with our clients. When we log in each day, we can clearly see what each of us is working on, the bigger picture each task is contributing to, and what’s next.
You should consider if supporting software, apps and platforms like Asana will help you create, implement, and work towards a timeline. The answer will most probably be yes!
Review progress and evaluate effectiveness
We know how easy it can be to get caught up in implementing your strategy and all of your brilliant plans. But be sure to stop regularly to review how well your tactical activity is performing.
Look back at those goals and completion dates you set in your strategy. This will help you evaluate your progress and take action if anything is off track.
You could do this each month, or in line with when your campaigns end, depending on what works.
Ask for contribution and feedback from your wider team too. It’s good to know how they feel the work went and if they feel the business as a whole is working to the intended strategy.
You could also run a team session to problem solve and brainstorm future marketing campaign ideas. Because, inevitably, things change within a year and plans need to change with them.
Which brings us onto our next point…
Make time to readjust
In the world of marketing, it doesn’t always go smoothly! A campaign might not be as successful as you expected or your web traffic might fall when you expected it to increase. But that’s all okay and it doesn’t mean that you have to throw your strategy out the window.
A slight bump in the road means you need to rethink and readjust.
It could mean you slightly alter the focus for the remainder of your timeline or that you change some campaigns. Testing is what marketing is all about after all, especially if you’re doing something exciting and new! It’s all part of the process.
Does your business need help to create or implement its marketing strategy?
We work with growing B2B businesses to create clear and effective strategies, then implement the tactics needed to achieve their goals.
If you know your business needs more from its marketing but aren’t sure how, please do get in touch!
