Have you started your 2021 Marketing Plan?

2021 is just around the corner. For savvy business owners, that means one thing — it’s time to make a business growth and marketing plan – especially important if you have had to go with the ebb and flow of this business year.

Defining the success of your business for the next year is pretty important to you, right? Without a defined, realistic and consistent strategy, your marketing efforts aren’t going to accomplish much. So, the process of creating a strategic marketing plan is vital for business success and ensuring your plan can be fluid and easily changeable to move with the time is important.

So, if you are daydreaming about mince pies here are some suggestions for your marketing plan:

Get your SWOT on and add a little PESTLE too!

These reports are great combined with an up to date and in-depth competitor analysis. If you don’t know what these are, Google them and thank us later.

Re-define your audiences & positioning

One thing 2020 showed us were that customers and their needs could change dramatically as can how they choose to buy. Have their needs changed? Are we still positioning correctly? What intelligence can you take from last year’s data and trends in your industry? Can you update target audience customer profiles? 

Where can your brand be seen?

Review all of the places that you are currently being seen by customers. Then consider if these are correct and where else could be useful. Don’t forget, this could be both online and offline depending on your business.

What are your objectives for 2021?

Now these may be a re-hash of your 2020 goals if you didn’t achieve them but what are your objectives and goals? You will need these first before you can identify how to get there! A gut feeling of wanting to earn more is not enough and the ability to capitalise on changes in the world could push you closer to achieving those goals.

KPIs

Did you meet your previous KPIs that you set out to achieve? If not, why not – it is probably not to see why given 2020. Dig deep and see how you honestly performed. Use this data to help define your 2021 KPIs.

Brand Review

Review your brand and current marketing collateral – Is it working as well as it could do for you? Does it need updating? And remember – it isn’t just about how YOU feel your design represents your business, so get out and ask your customers! 

Website

Review your website, does it need to be updated? Is it generating results? (Google Analytics is an amazing way to analyse this!) A website refresh is a great way to add new features and understand your customer journeys.

What marketing have you done?

Review all marketing activity and campaigns for 2020 if you did any in this unusual year, what worked, what didn’t?

Review marketing channels

Assess the value gained from the marketing channels that you are currently using eg. Social Media, PR, SEO, PPC, Blogging, Email Marketing, Advertising, Business Development, Resellers, Sales Activity etc. Which ones will you continue, pause or adapt for 2021. The changing way people shopped for products and services this year might alter your channel focus.

Budget

What does my Marketing Budget look like for 2021? Will it change from last year? Is it affordable? Are you realistically investing enough to get the return that I require? Perhaps budgets can be lowered as marketing is working effectively, this will depend each individual business and their unique circumstances.

Schedule

Once you know where you want to go and which tools you want to use, get it on paper in a quarterly plan to keep somewhere that you can regularly revisit.

Did you like our advice? Good luck with your planning.

IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE HEADACHE AND TOO MUCH HARD WORK… DON’T WORRY, WE HAVE ANOTHER OPTION…

Let us help you to blow your competitors out of the water in 2021 and work through the tiresome details that you do not have the time for. You can cherry pick the services you want from us so we can take pain out of painting your marketing picture for 2021.