In a world where virtual touch points are more plentiful (and important) than ever, businesses and nonprofits have many opportunities to connect with new prospects. The brands that stay in front of their audiences will be the ones to come out on top, and we are here to help you do just that. In this post, we will walk you through the steps you can take right now to set your marketing up for success in the new year.
A thorough audit of your marketing activities is the place to start. See what’s working and what’s not. It may be that the events of this year require you to make some changes to your traditional approach to marketing. Here are some questions to consider:
After such a challenging year, your audience may have changed. If it hasn’t changed, their needs may have changed. But you won’t know unless you ask! Consider picking up the phone and making some calls. Your customers will appreciate the personal touch.
Here are some questions you can ask your customers to help audit the effectiveness of your marketing activities:
Many businesses have no idea where their website traffic is coming from. It’s important to have a strong understanding of your web traffic so you can capture more qualified leads. Use analytics to understand how well your website content is meeting the needs of your target audience. A thorough analytics review may also reveal new audiences who are interacting with your content.
There may be opportunities to refresh old content that gets a lot of views, or repurpose popular content in social media posts. You may also consider creating a video around your website’s most popular content. If you need help understanding your website analytics please let us know. We would love to help you get the most out of this important data.
If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your website, it may be time to set a goal to refresh the site in the new year. Some design practices have changed so significantly, it’s important to keep your website current so that it’s working for you, not against you. Be sure to evaluate the current imagery and consider whether you need a refresh with professional photography for your website in the new year.
Here are a few ways to evaluate your website design:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical for your customers to locate you online and requires several elements to be effective, from technically flawless code to meaningful and useful content that answers people’s questions. Because this is such a highly technical consideration, we recommend having a company that specializes in SEO to audit your website and make recommendations for you. If an SEO audit is a service we can provide you, please contact us today to set up a meeting to discuss more.
In the meantime, run a Google search for your brand name and see what comes up. If you haven’t already, make a list of keywords that need to be associated with your brand, search those keywords and see how you rank. Start brainstorming ways to create content around those keywords. By the way, this is also a great time to review and clean up your company’s digital footprint.
It’s important to make sure that your brand is thriving, not just surviving, on social media. There are ways to leverage social media to engage new audiences and drive traffic to your brand. Are you making the most of these opportunities or just getting by with a presence on a page you rarely update? Also, make sure that videos are a part of your content strategy because marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
If you’re not getting the most out of your social media, we encourage you to make this a 2021 marketing goal. It doesn’t take much to create a content calendar and plan out social media posts in manageable chunks. If you already have a blog on your website, you can repurpose your most popular content in social media posts. The opportunities to attract leads on social media are limitless. If you need help, we would love to brainstorm more ideas with you!
In case you didn’t notice, we’ve been subtly advocating for more video marketing throughout this post. We believe that 2021 is going to be the year for video marketing. If this is not something you’re currently planning for in the new year, you may want to reevaluate your strategy. Video marketing efforts are not only more effective, customers have grown to expect it from the brands they do business with.
Video marketing is critical to your sales process for several reasons. Video marketing stops the mindless scrolling on social media, it increases your brand’s credibility and trust between you and your customers, and video marketing helps new audiences understand why what you do for them matters.
Here is a great post on what to consider before you begin video marketing. We are big fans of brand videos because of the powerful impact these videos make on our brains. Several of our clients are using brand videos in their marketing campaigns to great effect. Brands like Roy Pitz Brewing and The Falafel Shack are building strong connections with their audience by giving them an inside look at the heart behind their craft. As always, please let us know how we can help you in this area!
Now that you’ve taken the time to evaluate where you’ve been, it’s time to chart the way forward. Start drafting your marketing and sales plan for 2021 now. Set goals and milestones that can help you build your momentum, whatever the new year may bring. Armed with facts about what’s working and what isn’t, you can plan for the year ahead with confidence knowing that you have a solid strategy to support your efforts.
We would love to help you with this process. It can be overwhelming to get started but once you get into a routine of auditing and evaluating, you will see how powerful this practice can be to your profitability with marketing. Let’s set up a meeting to go over your plans and discover how we can work together to make marketing more successful for your business or organization.