The Best Marketing Strategies Are Well-Planned Marketing Strategies
Q4 is in full swing, meaning your holiday marketing campaigns are just beginning to launch, but Q1 is fast approaching. A new year brings new opportunities, new connections, and perhaps most importantly, new goals. Now is the time to start drawing up fresh marketing tactics that will help fuel your success in 2024.
By beginning the planning process well in advance, you’ll be one step ahead of the competition and can ensure you craft a strategy that perfectly aligns with your business’ objectives. The last thing you want is to be left scrambling when January 1 rolls around. That’s a lot like showing up to a potluck with an empty dish.
To help get the strategic juices flowing, we’re sharing five ways you can prepare for Q1 marketing tactics now.
Evaluate Your Marketing Tactics Over the Last Year
You can’t plan an effective strategy for the new year without first looking at how your current marketing tactics have performed. Review the content and assets you’ve created over the last several months – including blogs, videos, social media posts, display ads, and more – to get a better understanding of how things performed.
Diving into the analytics of your various campaigns will allow you to see what types of messaging resonated with your target audience and resulted in the most conversions. By honestly reflecting on what worked – and what didn’t – you can make more informed decisions about your future marketing efforts.
See What Marketing Tactics the Competition Is Implementing
It’s good to audit your own marketing tactics, but you can also learn a lot by checking in on what your competition is doing. Performing a bit of market research not only shows you areas you can improve in, but also lets you know where you’re excelling.
Scope out competitors’ websites and social media platforms for insight on what they’re promoting and how they approach customer service in this digital age. Are they responding to individual questions and comments on channels like Facebook and Instagram? What kind of verbiage do they use to try to set themselves apart?
You can also explore a competitor’s search engine optimization (SEO) efforts with a quick Google search. Type in keywords, industry terms, or common phrases that apply to both your businesses and see what pops up. If you have access to a tool like SEMrush or Moz, you can glean even more information.
Where are you ranking compared to them? If you find you’re falling short, think about adding this to your list of marketing tactics for Q1.
Outline the Marketing Campaigns You Want to Run
Q1 sets the tone for the rest of the year, so you need to come out swinging with the best marketing strategy. Now that you have a clearer picture of your past performance and what the competition is up to, you can brainstorm with your team what you’d like to focus on moving forward.
Q1 is filled with multiple events, holidays, and opportunities that you can capitalize on. Maybe your customers have New Year’s resolutions you can help them with, or maybe their tax refund will be burning a hole in their pocket come springtime. Consider the seasonality of your business and develop seasonal marketing strategies to grab your customers’ attention and promote relevant products and services.
It’s also in your business’s best interest to plan for further down the line and come up with a calendar that covers some 2024 marketing tactics that are already set in stone. Think product launches, holiday marketing campaigns, content calendars, and special offers. You’re not meant to have everything figured out – you can flesh out the details at a later date – but a basic outline will set you up for continued success throughout the year.
Update and Repurpose Old Content
A new year doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes all your content needs is a refresh. Examine what you already have and come up with ways it can be made new again. Outdated blog posts can easily be rewritten with the latest statistics, and a video that’s lost its luster can be updated with more modern graphic elements.
Additionally, consider how current content can be applied to different formats. Related social media posts can make a great infographic, while website copy can inspire your paid search campaigns.
It’s marketing tactics like these that help you work smarter, not harder, but it’s important to note that you shouldn’t simply duplicate content and release it back out into the world. This can do more harm than good, penalizing your efforts and affecting your business’ reputation.
Work with a Strategic Agency Partner to Craft the Best Marketing Strategy for Your Business Goals
Running your business is a full-time job in and of itself. Throwing marketing into the mix is like pulling double duty. By partnering with an expert, you can ensure your marketing dollars are impacting your audience for the better.
iFocus Marketing works with you every step of the way to create and implement year-round and seasonal marketing strategies that help you accomplish your growth goals. But we don’t stop there! We’re obsessed (in a good way!) with data and stay attuned to your campaign’s performance, so we can continue to get results that help take your business to new heights.
Ready to start planning your Q1 strategy? Us too! Reach out to us directly to schedule a free discovery call with our team. We’ll learn a bit more about you, what you do, and your existing marketing tactics. From there, we’ll come back to you with a plan primed to build awareness, drive traffic, and increase your conversions. Call us today at (913) 578-8521, or drop us a line.
Zarah Eads brings several years of marketing experience to her role as a digital copywriter at iFocus Marketing. With a bachelor’s degree in journalism, she’s a storyteller at heart, combining shrewd attention to detail and compelling imagery to bring a voice and personality to a brand. She’s passionate about helping small- and medium-sized businesses better market their products and services with interesting, meaningful, and SEO-rich content. When she’s not writing, Zarah enjoys exploring the local culinary scene with her husband and spending quality couch time with her hound dog, Luna.
