As we near the end of the year, business owners shouldn’t delay in getting started on their new-year marketing plans. You have to act now if you want to put your brand’s best foot forward in 2020!
Taking time to plan your marketing efforts now will help ensure that everything is primed and ready to go once the new year starts, so your business won’t fall behind and allow the competition to entice your customers.
Here are six tactics to help you prepare your business and enter 2020 with confidence.
1: Review and Update Your Website
Your website is one of your brand’s best marketing tools in today’s modern and connected age. For this reason, it’s imperative that you keep it up to date and visually appealing to encourage customers to browse and learn more about your business. A clunky, out-of-date or unappealing website can deter customers. Your goal should be to catch their attention immediately, then keep them interested.
Start by reviewing your existing website and look for areas of improvement. Use analytics to determine what pages are visited the most and understand how users travel through your website. This can show you which pages are most important to update and keep fresh.
You’ll also want to examine the website’s content. Does the site showcase all of your products and services accurately? Add any missing services so customers get a full understanding of what your brand has to offer. Be sure to include keywords and optimize each page for SEO so your website gets more traffic.
Additionally, make sure it’s easy and entertaining to navigate your website. Do pages load quickly? Are all your images and descriptions appearing in the correct places? Is the design relevant and interesting? Adjust these things as necessary to ensure maximum visual appeal.
2: Purge Out-of-Date Collateral and Create New Materials
In addition to your website, be sure to review your marketing collateral to make sure it is on brand and up to date. Out-of-date marketing collateral hurts your brand in more ways than one. Not only can it create confusion in your customer base, but it can harm the trust you work hard to build between your brand and your customers.
You want your business to look professional and on top of your marketing efforts with fresh, new collateral that sends the right kinds of messages.
This is also a good time to brainstorm what additional collateral can be added to your business’s repertoire to deliver your brand’s message. Try one or two new pieces in the new year, such as vehicle decals, stickers or branded promotional items.
3: Gather Customer Testimonials
In today’s marketing climate, word-of-mouth marketing and consumer trust are huge. Testimonials from satisfied customers can be a powerful marketing tool, so if you don’t have any or haven’t put them to good use, now is the time.
Reach out to loyal customers or customers you’ve provided services to in the past month to obtain testimonials. Then, incorporate these positive reviews into your website, emails, social media and marketing collateral.
4: Review and Refresh Your Branding
Over the past year, your brand has likely grown and innovated. Because this can happen quickly, your branding may have fallen out of line with what your business truly stands for. Examine your current branding and determine whether it accurately represents your brand and the unique things it has to offer. If it doesn’t, now is the time to give it a refresh to help you reconnect with customers in 2020.
Additionally, as your brand changes, you can quickly lose sight of who your target customer base should be. Without a clear direction on who you’re looking to serve, your marketing efforts can come off too vague or misdirected.
Alongside your branding refresh, think about who your “dream 50” customers are for 2020. Look at your sales data from this year and see what characteristics your top 10 customers share. These characteristics should be present in your dream 50. Understanding your target customers will help you cater your branding efforts more appropriately to their interests, resulting in better customer response and higher sales.
5: Create a New Year Marketing Campaign
Once your website, collateral and branding are realigned with your business’s goals, it’s time to start 2020 off with a bang and get people talking about your brand. Kick off the new year with an engaging marketing campaign targeting your dream 50 customers.
Identify a theme that aligns with the excitement of the new year and develop multi-touch assets that communicate how your business can help customers achieve their 2020 goals. You may even consider offering a promotion, such as a contest or giveaway, to generate more excitement and spread the word about your brand.
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