January is almost over, and planning should be well underway for 2014. What goals do wish to accomplish over this year and what resources are required?
As we discussed last year, an annual review allows you to benchmark performance, and evaluate whether you are meeting the goals established in your business and marketing plans.
Reviews let you make informed decisions, and ensure there is an alignment with your business and marketing plans.
A marketing audit follows through by providing a health-check of your marketing activities. An audit ensures that you are receiving a return on your investment and are able to respond to opportunities aligned with your goals.
Planning needs to be supported with implementation. For example, if your review identified opportunities for new customer segments, how will you reach these markets and what resources are required?
Ensure that implementation schedules are realistic and supported by metrics that let you measure effectiveness. Identify the sub-tasks that are required and the items that are critical for success.
Make sure that your implementation outcomes and plans fit together.
Activities will often be inter-related, and it is important that you consider a holistic approach. For example, a promotional campaign may be designed to reach your existing customers, but will need to reinforced through other tools, such as social media or direct mail.
Identifying how you can interconnect your marketing and communication tools will deliver a higher response rate and reinforce your key messages. Marketing needs to be considered in a holistic context so that you can achieve growth and service your target markets.
Unfortunately there was a high degree of economic uncertainty throughout last year, so lets make 2014 a year of achieving great outcomes.
