Your holiday work has been delivered. Your corporate parties are done. But before you put up your feet and ring in the New Year, make time to plan for your sales and marketing efforts in 2017.
“The best way to start the year off right is to gather your sales and marketing team together for a series of planning sessions to get everyone aligned and headed in the same direction,” writes Marisa Smith in a blog post for The Whole Brain group, a firm specializing in online marketing. “Follow these steps to learn from the past, dream big, and put together a sensible plan for achieving your goals in 2017.”
Among her tips:
Create your Budget. The big caveat here from Smith? Be realistic. “The size of your marketing budget will also depend on how much you have available to invest, and how quickly you want to see results,” she writes. “If you have caviar dreams and a tuna fish budget, you’ll be disappointed by your lack of results, and your team will be frustrated by their inability to meet your expectations.”
Pinpoint your Ideal Customer. Year’s end is a good time to step back and consider who your core customers are, and who you’d like them to be. “Identify the characteristics that make profitable and enjoyable to work with,” Smith suggests, who suggests drafting “ideal customer profiles” and “buyer personas” to steer your strategy. “Update them as necessary to reflect the kinds of customers who will help you reach your growth goals.
Look for Pain Points — and Eliminate them. Whether a customer is calling your shop, stopping by in person or buying online, you want the transaction to be seamless — for that to happen, you have to occasionally step into a customer’s shoes. “Plot out every interaction point your personas will have with your content or your company,” Smith says. “Start at the end — what will they do immediately before signing a contract with you? … At each point along the way, identify the persona’s main questions, motivations, and potential objections. Then identify the kinds of content you’ll need to create to meet them at each point along the buyer’s journey.”
For additional inspiration and good advice — including how to measure the effectiveness of your sales and marketing strategy at year’s end — check out her blog.
For additional inspiration and good advice — including how to measure the effectiveness of your sales and marketing strategy at year’s end — check out her blog.
