5 ways to kick-off your marketing activity in 2022

By Vicky Clapham

The start of the new year is a great opportunity to review your marketing and communications activity. If you don’t have a marketing plan for the year, now’s the time to create one. If you have a marketing plan in place, have a look to see if it’s still relevant and are you on track to achieve the aims and objectives set.

Marketing can seem a little bit overwhelming when you’re trying to decide what to do first, how to do it, who to target and when to implement. To help focus your efforts and get you started on a more structured, methodical approach to your marketing activity, here are the top 5 things to get started on this year….

1) Determine what is it you are trying to market and who you are trying to reach

This might seem obvious but really drilling it down to a one-line pitch of your service/product and a specific target market with key attributes (as opposed to just wanting to reach everyone) is quite a difficult task and does take some thinking about.

What is your USP? What pain point or issue are you helping resolve?

Even though you are identifying a specific target market, it doesn’t mean you can’t sell to other people or they can’t buy your product/services – it just means that with limited budget/resources you are focusing on the one market that will give you the most returns on your investment and who you align with the most.

2) Allocate a budget

Marketing isn’t ‘free’ – even things like social media and PR which are perceived to be ‘free’ come with a cost in terms of time and effort they take to do it right.

Allocating a budget and specific resource – whether it’s carving out time in your own schedule to create regular content or bringing on board outsourced support, it will give you some structure instead of just sucking and seeing what happens and fitting it in when you can.

3) Set timelines and targets

Having some clear objectives, that have timelines attached, that are realistic, achievable and measurable will really help focus your marketing plan.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you need lots of objectives as part of your plan. Having two or three objectives will suffice and really streamline your marketing activity for the year. Do you want to raise brand awareness? Do you want to increase your share of the market? Do you want to increase enquiries and sales? Whatever you are really wanting to do, look at how you are going to achieve, attribute a measurable figure and decide your timeframe.

4) Focus your marketing channels

It’s easy to get distracted by the latest social media platform release or that tempting advertising offer in a new publication but it’s important to be honest and objective when it comes to where your marketing efforts should lie.

Take a good look at the three points above and then determine the channels. What will help you reach your target markets, what will your budget and resource allow and what will address those key objectives?

Unless you have a significant budget and resource, you’re going to have to be focused but that doesn’t mean you can’t be creative or carry a big impact with what you do. Events, PR, Digital Marketing, Customer Service, Websites, Sponsorship, Advertising, CSR, Point of Sale – these are all channels to consider.

Have a creative brainstorm, work your way through a wish list addressing the points above and prioritize.     

5) Raise your own profile

One great way of marketing your business is getting yourself out there. There will be no bigger champion of the business than you! You are the biggest marketing asset for the business.

Look at opportunities to raise your profile – whether it’s attending networking, being more visible on social media, speaking at events relevant to your target market, writing for publications your target audience reads, sharing press releases to the media of your achievements and news or putting yourself forward for an award.

These things might take you out of your comfort zone but as we know, being a business owner involves getting comfortable with the uncomfortable so take some small steps and get out there – your business needs you!

If you would like help with the steps above, the Bevic Marketing Workshop can be a great way to share ideas, get those light bulb moments and focus needed.

Until the 7th February, the bespoke, interactive 2 hour workshop is only £299, before increasing to £399. Get in touch at vicky@bevic.co.uk for further information.