Marketing Plan Strategies: How to Craft a Killer Marketing Plan

As we roll into the second month of 2020, business owners have – hopefully – already created their annual marketing plans. Taking action now instead of waiting to react can mean the difference in an impactful brand in 2020. If you haven’t put pen to paper yet, though, don’t worry! There’s still time to get ahead of the curve, but don’t wait any longer; every moment wasted is a chance to let the competition win over your customers. We’ve put together five easy steps to help you craft a killer marketing plan so you can launch your business into 2020 and hit the ground running.

1. Refresh Your Marketing Materials

Your business should look professional, and fresh, creative collateral with a strong message is the driving force behind an impactful marketing plan. Review your marketing material to ensure its relevance. Irrelevant marketing assets can confuse your customers and negatively affect the trust you worked hard to build. Updating your marketing materials also offers an opportunity to collaborate with your team and determine what additional assets are needed. One or two new pieces, like vehicle decals, stickers, or specialty promotional items, can be powerful additions to any brand’s arsenal.

2. Revitalize Your Branding

Most likely, your brand has experienced growth over the last year. As your company evolves, your message changes, along with the market landscape in general. These progressions can happen quickly, and you must be able to pivot with them. Take a look at your current branding. Does it accurately represent your brand and the unique elements it offers? If not, now is the time to give it the refresh it needs to help you reconnect with customers in the new year. Speaking of customers: as your brand evolves, it’s easy to lose sight of your target demographic. A brand refresh allows you to refocus and realign your brand with your customers. With a clear focus on who you’re serving, your marketing efforts will be focused and directed. Alongside your branding refresh, consider your “Dream 50” customers for 2020, then analyze last year’s sales date for a look at the characteristics your Top 10 customers share. Are these characteristics present in your Dream 50? A strong grasp on your target customers’ wants and needs will help you cater to your marketing efforts more effectively and garner the greatest customer response.

3. Update Your Website 

In the modern marketplace, your website is one of your brand’s best tools for customer retention and connection. For this reason, it must be kept up to date, visually appealing, and informative, encouraging customers to browse easily and learn more about your business. An outdated, unappealing website deters customers; your goal should be to capture their attention immediately, then keep them scrolling. Start by taking a hard look at your current website for any areas of improvement. Make use of analytics to establish which pages are most visited and how customers travel through your website. This can help you determine which pages are most important to update with fresh, engaging content. It’s also helpful to examine any website content closely. Does your website properly showcase all of your products and services? Are any customer services missing? Ensuring your web content is updated allows customers to obtain a full understanding of what your brand has to offer. Including keywords and optimizing each page for SEO also helps your website get more traffic. Lastly, make sure your website navigation is easy and interesting. Do the pages load quickly? Are your images and descriptions populating correctly? Is the website design relevant? Make any necessary adjustments to ensure maximum aesthetic appeal.

4. Gather Customer Stories

In the modern marketplace, word-of-mouth marketing and consumer trust are key. Testimonials from happy shoppers are a hugely impactful marketing tool, so if you don’t have testimonials or have never put them to good use, now is the time to do so. Contact loyal shoppers or previous customers to obtain testimonials, then incorporate their stories into all of your marketing assets, from your website and emails to social media.

5. Craft a Fresh Marketing Campaign 

Your website, marketing assets, and branding are revitalized and aligned with your business goals. Now what? It’s time to launch into 2020 with an engaging marketing campaign targeting your Dream 50 customers.  Get customers talking by identifying a theme that builds on the excitement of a new year and develop multi-touch marketing assets that share how your business helps customers achieve their 2020 resolutions. Promotions, contests, and giveaways also generate more enthusiasm and help spread the word about your brand, resulting in a relevant, revitalized take on the new year. getGoing and find out more about Direct Mail Marketing from our professional team. Call us today: (678) 727-0678. https://blogs.alphagraphics.com/blog/atlanta-georgia-us366/2019/12/19/direct-mail-marketing-easy-steps-to-success/