2021 Marketing Strategy (continued)
Develop your 2021 marketing strategy — looking back to plan ahead
As we discussed last week, developing your 2021 marketing strategy doesn’t have to be done at once. Check out these steps to follow.
Find the best performing content
While you’re looking back, review your social media posts and website content to discover your shining stars, i.e., best performing or most popular content.
As far as social, don’t feel overwhelmed like you need to survey an entire year’s worth of posts. Take it month-by-month and find the top-performing posts. Fortunately, most social networks allow you to find those easily by looking at previous months’ metrics.
For example, to view posts on Twitter for each month, just go to analytics, select Tweets, and sort by top Tweet. For Facebook, you can do the same by heading over to the insights page and choosing any of the metrics (Likes, Reach, Actions on Page, etc) then sorting by date. You just need to scroll through to find the best ones.
When it comes to content on your site, dive into your analytics, and assess which blog posts garner the most organic traffic (or use your specific KPIs).
The purpose of this exercise isn’t to be exhaustive but rather to get a high-level view of the types of content that performed the best throughout the year.
For instance, if you noticed that each month, product videos got the best engagement from followers, then you can create more in 2021. Perhaps the gift guides on your blog see the most organic traffic. Add similar topics and themes to your content calendar for next year.
Repurpose and update existing content and campaigns
Creating content, whether it be graphics for social media, writing blog posts, developing copy for ads or landing pages, even coming up with product descriptions — it’s all time-consuming. You don’t want to let that valuable content go to waste by simply publishing or sharing it once and forgetting about it.
When you look back at your past year’s marketing while also assessing that content’s effectiveness, you can take note of what content to reuse, repurpose, or update. If a social post performed well in February, there’s no reason you couldn’t tweak the caption and use the graphic again.
Make a list of your favorite, high-performing content to repurpose in your 2021 marketing strategy.
Updating content can be especially powerful when it comes to SEO performance on your site. A Hubspot case study found that updating old content doubled monthly leads generated and increased organic search views by 106%. Moreover, you’re getting more value out of work already done. Refer to Neil Patel’s guide for a deep-dive into content updating.
Determine what new channels and tactics to test
When you get a zoomed-out view of your year’s marketing it’s easy to see where you missed out. Perhaps you haven’t jumped in on TikTok or your video content is lacking.
Here’s where you might need to include a little competitor research as well. Take a look at similar businesses in your industry, assess their digital presence, and ask:
Where are they spending their time on social media?
What type of content is on their website?
What promotions or campaigns have they run?
The most essential part of competitive research is to notice success and engagement. A competitor’s audience is yours as well, so make sure to see what their followers engaged with, check for comments on blog posts, etc.
Ensure authenticity in your messaging
The past year has no doubt kept everyone on their toes. However, one thing you can’t afford to miss in your marketing is authenticity—in both your messaging and connection to your audience.
Modern consumers, buyers, or clients want authenticity — 90% agree that it impacts what brands they like and support, according to Stackla. Another Sprout Social report found that more than half of consumers (57%) will increase spending with a brand they feel connected to and 76% will buy from them over a competitor.
Your supporters want to hear what you have to say, they want to know why your product or service will solve their problems, they want to see the face behind the screen.
The people who support your business want to hear what you have to say, they want to know why your product or service will solve their problems, they want to see the face behind the screen. That same Sprout Social report found that 70% of consumers feel more connected to a brand when their CEO or employees are active/visible on social media.
Have you been authentic in 2020? How can you be more transparent and real?
Feel confident in your decisions for your 2021 marketing strategy
When you determine the success, effectiveness and ROI of your efforts, it’s much easier to allocate resources and budget for the following year. Too often, managers or business owners (especially SMBs and solopreneurs) say they’ll audit their marketing from the previous year or analyze performance. Then it falls further and further down the to-do list.
When you take the time to truly assess your past strategy — data, metrics, KPIs, what moved the needle, the results from when you pivoted during a global pandemic — you’ll feel much more confident in investing in your future growth. Whether that be by outsourcing marketing tasks, allocating more time and budget towards successful channels, or trying new tactics.
Find your marketing purpose for 2021
Your 2021 marketing strategy only has to be as complex or in-depth as your specific business needs. Don’t be overwhelmed by developing your annual plan; it can be as simple as determining your monthly PPC budget and how many social/blog posts you plan to publish. Alternatively, it can also be a cohesive plan for your marketing team that guides your efforts while aligning all platforms and messaging — it’s totally business-dependent.
The most important factor is to actually have a plan in place.
When you’re looking back to develop your 2021 marketing strategy, it’s time to figure out what worked and what didn’t, to serve as the foundation for future roadmap. Trust me, it will be a much easier and more valuable exercise if you get started ASAP!
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