It's that time again. We're well into Q4, so your business should be thinking about next year's digital marketing planning. How do you kick the year off with a bang? How can you plan to generate even more revenue for your company? What promotions will you run? What new products or services will you create?
There is so much to plan ahead for, so the earlier you're able to do so, the better. If you're looking for assistance putting together a plan for your 2019 digital marketing, read on. We're covering the best practices for planning your new year strategies.
1. Reuse what worked this past year.
Did you have any campaigns that really hit it home for your business? Run those same campaigns. If there are any sales or promotions that you've created for your company that have worked, especially any that have worked better than you expected, keep them in your repertoire. It's much cheaper to reuse ideas and assets than it is to create new ones every single year.
You know what they say: don't fix what isn't broken!
Choose a few of your top campaigns from the previous year to rerun. This makes your 2019 much easier to plan but can also make customers excited when they remember how much they saved during the promotion in years past.
However, you don't want to make your marketing boring and repetitive. By choosing your top few campaigns, you're able to get good use out of ideas that worked, then spend some time with your marketing team to create new ones.
2. Focus on upcoming trends.
Digital marketing is always so interesting because it changes pace so quickly. What was new and relevant five years ago is obsolete today. This is why it's essential to take a look at upcoming trends each year to see if there are any new avenues on which your marketing team should be focusing or investing.
What's coming up for 2019?
- Data, data, and more data
It's becoming increasingly doable to track social media marketing, even with brick and mortar shops. This means your business should absolutely be utilizing analytics, insights, and reporting to see which campaigns are performing, how many dollars are being generated, and where improvements (if any) could be made to increase performance.
- Chatbots
These have been increasingly popular over the last couple of years, with the most common chatbots being utilized on Facebook or on a company website. There is software in which your business can invest to create a chatbot that can help make appointments or sell products/services for your business without any of your sales or marketing people having to raise a finger.
- Native ads
These ad types are shown within feeds, just like any other post you see, with the only difference being that they're denoted "Sponsored." Because viewers are largely ignoring banner ads, sidebar ads, and other seemingly out of place ads, native ads that appear just like a friend's post are gaining popularity. These are seen on each of the main social media platforms and should definitely be utilized by your business where possible.
- Video
Yes, we're going to say this every year until you're yelling "video!" in your sleep. Video content is the future. People want entertaining content to watch, and it's your job to give it to them. Try investing in shorter videos for Facebook or Instagram Stories, and move up from there.
3. Conduct an online audit.
Because things are always changing, it's a good idea to keep up with new design trends, check out new platform features, and more. Each year (or, ideally, each quarter), conduct an audit of your business's online presence and update cover photos, rewrite bios, fill out any new fields with more business information, and generally take a look around to see if you're following all of the branding best practices for your social media pages.
4. Analyze the competition.
Looking for ideas? Check out what your competition has been doing and see if you can emulate their campaigns and make them better for your own business. If you have absolutely no idea what to try next, your safest bet is just to do what everyone else is doing...only better.
Of course, we certainly recommend chatting with the experts and using an agency to help you out if you're stuck in a rut (that's exactly what we're here for), but in the meantime, follow the crowd.
5. Test out a new type of digital marketing.
Is there something your business wanted to try out the last couple of years, but simply hasn't done so? Make 2019 your year! Find something new to test this year and set out to create a plan for it.
If your business could really benefit from affiliate marketing or influencer marketing, start reaching out to people and businesses to promote your product. You can partner with a third-party company or use a CRM to automate your own affiliate program for your product or service.
If you've been dying to invest in video equipment to really dive into video marketing for your business, get on it! Create your video strategy, whether it's weekly Facebook Live videos in a private Facebook group, webinars, creative videos, educational videos, and more.
Or, if your business would benefit from a podcast, invest in your equipment, add your podcast idea to iTunes, start outlining your episodes, and start recording! There are endless creative ideas to set your business apart from your competition, to provide value (both free and paid) to your customers, and generate a profit for your company.
If you're interested in chatting more about how we can help you to create a 2019 digital marketing strategy for your business, contact us today. Creating profitable strategies is what we do best.
Written By: David Carpenter
