As the first month of 2024 comes to an end, it’s a perfect time to reevaluate your business plan. Now that you’ve started working towards your goals, were they realistic? Not ambitious enough? Consider how you can finesse your plan so it’s rock solid — and maybe even set a foundation for 2025.
This year, we challenge you. Ditch the jargon, ditch the textbook. Your marketing plan isn’t a dusty document filled with suits and spreadsheets. It’s your action-packed roadmap to marketing glory. Think “treasure map” rather than “corporate textbook.”
Brands often try multiple different strategies, sometimes going over budget to optimize their results. And that’s why they fail.
To be clear, we’re talking marketing plan here — not marketing strategy. What’s the difference? A strategy deals more with the “how” — your channels, campaign types, and the tools/goals attached. A plan deals with the “what” — the specific steps and daily actions you take to enact the strategy.
Let’s take your brand to new heights. Here are some tips to transform your planning game into a masterpiece.
1. Reflect on this Past Year
Chances are, you worked on 2024’s marketing plan months ago — and despite the crisp air, 2023 wasn’t exactly over. A month into 2024, you can reflect on the full year with more perspective.
Operations wizard Anais suggests you maintain 2 lists:
- Things you would have done differently in the previous year
- Things you didn’t get to do
Use these insights to shape your 2024 strategy. What did you learn? What can you improve?
Consider the feedback from your target customers or clients, for instance. What’s clunky, overhyped, or frustrating? Fix those leaks, and stellar service will become your secret weapon.
Remember, happy customers are your best marketing team. Invest in understanding them — hang out in their online haunts, analyze competitor reviews, and prioritize their needs. Because in the end, loyal fans fuel success, not fancy ads (though the ads certainly help).
2. Learn from Previous Campaigns
Analyze the performance of your previous campaigns and identify what worked and what didn’t. Use these insights to inform your 2024 strategy and improve your approach.
Your industry intuition is invaluable. Dive deep into the metrics and analytics of your previous campaigns to understand what resonated with your target audience and what fell flat.
If you’re looking into a past campaign during Q3 of an election year, for instance, remember to consider which factors have changed since your last campaign. Has your audience shifted? Are their wants and needs the same? Identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement.
Stay ahead of the curve by embracing emerging technologies in your marketing to analyze data (if you choose AI tools, use them responsibly by setting up company-wide parameters).
3. Consumer-centric Approach
Keep the consumer at the center of your strategies. Your ideal customer should stay in mind: where are they digitally and physically? What drives them? What do they prioritize?
You are the voice of the consumer, and your decisions should reflect their needs and preferences.
Here are a few steps you can take to re-focus on the consumer:
- Rely on smaller events that deliver deeper connections and real value — rather than larger, impersonal conferences.
- Embrace real voices. Encourage user-generated content; it creates connections and buzz that an ad campaign can’t replicate.
- Think local! Hyper-localized campaigns help you understand the consumer’s community. Tailor content to resonate deeper — creating a more personal connection with your audience.
4. Start Early
Starting early is crucial. It gives you the luxury of time to analyze, adapt, and act with precision.
As you do just that this quarter, consider expanding your plan for Q3 and Q4. We often plan the first 2 quarters to death and lightly plan the second half of the year.
According to McKinsey’s growth survey in 2023, “Winners are investing more despite an uncertain macroeconomic outlook.” Keep this data in mind as you allocate resources, such as budget and personnel, to each campaign.
1. Align Your Team With Common Goals.
Identify one long-term goal and a few short-term goals. Ensure everyone knows which Key Performance Indicators constitute short-term goals. At a more macro level, ensure management and employees align with your brand’s long-term growth goal. Identify which steps each department will take this year to work towards that goal.
2. Embrace Strategic Forecasting
With fierce competition, strategic forecasting gives you the edge. Analyze market trends, consumer behavior, and technological advancements ahead of time. This way, you can predict shifts and capitalize on upcoming opportunities. Use new information since you last planned to anticipate possible challenges and develop strategies to overcome them.
Take this time to re-evaluate: which strategic predictions you made for 2024 already hold true? Which trends are going in a different direction than expected?
3. Innovate With Confidence
Without the pressure of immediate deadlines, teams can explore creative ideas, push boundaries and separate you from the competition. Innovation thrives when there’s room to experiment, fail, learn, and iterate without the looming threat of imminent campaign launches.
4. Build Safeguards
Our media maven, Jen, reminds us that starting early is especially important for 2024. With both the Olympic games and an election coming up, there’s lots to plan for this year. Social Media approvals will take longer than usual to set ads live, so be mindful of longer lead times in the social space — especially in the health care category.
5. Media Planning for the Political Year
Recognize the impact of upcoming elections on your media approach. Build safeguards for ad approval delays and start planning for 2024 Q3 in advance.
With marketing goals laid out, how are you interacting with potential consumers and affirming your market share?
Your ideal consumer may lead you to certain marketing channels. Maybe Netflix removing their lowest-cost ad-free plan has made them a new contender for your business, for instance.
Which events are relevant to your business — and how are you approaching them? Why is the chosen approach the best way to reach your customer base?
If you haven’t answered these questions for Q3 and Q4, it’s time to start.
6. Set Realistic Goals
Businesses crack the code of what works by staying realistic. It’s essential to level-set with realistic goals and aim to over-deliver on them.
Remember, less is more. Prioritize a few killer objectives, keep monthly plans streamlined, and revisit your goals each quarter for course corrections. Your marketing efforts should align with achievable goals.
Now, back to those numbers (don’t worry — it’s quick). Narrow down your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Pick 1-2 trusty metrics for each goal, like website visits for brand awareness or conversions for sales. Then, take a look at the metrics each channel garnered.
Considering what was spent on each channel, you can calculate your cost per goal for each channel. With the value of each goal achieved, you can analyze what’s worth it — and what can go to the wayside.
With these metrics in mind, set feasible goals (for the most part).
7. Incorporate “out-of-the-box” Goals
Director of Account Management Gracie advises that 80% of goals should be based on the tried and true — with 20% being more “out-there” goals that push the envelope for your business.
Allocate a portion (around 20%) of your planning sessions to explore unorthodox ideas and innovative approaches that could bring more value to your business.
8. Collaboration Across Departments
Prioritize fostering collaboration across different departments to ensure the successful execution of your strategies. A united team is key to achieving your goals.
Successful marketing campaigns call for cross-functional synergy. It’s a symphony playing in tandem. Departments signal one another, and everyone follows the lead of the marketing conductor.
Varied perspectives increase your chance at success — and collaboration fosters even more creativity in the individual.
9. Stay Informed and Adapt
Be a market chameleon. A marketing plan thrives on agility, evolving alongside a dynamic market. Being nimble is your superpower in the unpredictable landscape that is 2024.
Stay updated on market trends, changing consumer behavior, and competitors’ actions. Continuously read and consider conducting primary research to refine your strategies for the next campaigns.
Think quick adjustments, embrace real-time insights, and watch your adaptable strategies lead you to success.
10. Budget and Timing
It’s time to crunch some numbers. How long did each goal take to achieve? Was it worth the labor that went into it? Could there be a quicker method to achieve the same result?
Budget and timing can make or break your business. Here are 3 key tips to ensure you remain on top:
1. Strategically Allocate Your Budget
Allocate which percentage of your target revenue goes to marketing. When you have a clear understanding of the total budget, break it down by campaign, channel, and activity. With historical data and industry benchmarks considered, ensure every dollar spent is justified by potential ROI.
Consider your human and technological resources as well. Where can efficiency be increased? Can you automate certain repetitive tasks and invest in training to improve productivity for others?
2. Prioritize Based On Impact
Hopefully, you’ve already created a marketing calendar for 2024 — outlining key dates, campaign milestones, and budget deadlines.
Today, you can ask yourself: Have your priorities changed?
Before we’re too far into the year, ensure the budget allocated to each campaign aligns with your brand priorities. Since last year, has a new opportunity become more possible? Has an older priority fallen by the wayside?
3. Create Optimized Yet Flexible Timelines
Identify key periods for customer engagement and sales opportunities, and plan your spending to coincide with those peaks.
There’s a catch, though. You must remain flexible. Ensure you allow for redistributing rapidly in response to a market change. Staying agile means saving in costs and the ability to pivot away from ineffective strategies quickly.
Now, what are you waiting for? Get to it!
Conclusion
We invite you to succeed in 2024. The impact of a solid marketing plan is unmatched. McKinsey reminds us that “marketing can drive resiliency in uncertain times.”
We understand it’s gotten more difficult — with “75% of CMOs facing pressure to do more with less” (Asana). When cutting costs, as Diana Brooks advises, marketing should never be the first to go. You need to bet on your brand to succeed.
By following these tips, you can better align your business and marketing objectives. Let’s make it a year to remember.
Don’t hesitate to reach out for support in planning marketing initiatives for the next year. Email us here to get started!
