You either love making new year’s resolutions, or you’re totally against it because it just shows yourself every year that you didn’t stick to eating healthy or exercising for at least 30 minutes a day. Although we encourage you to make business goals on a daily and tweak them regularly, starting fresh in the new year with an optimistic mindset gives you the motivation to sit down, and plan out your marketing goals in advance. We firmly believe that any plan is better than no plan, so there is no right or wrong in your planning so long as you have some kind of plan to work from when you’re done. Setting this time aside also allows you to reflect on which marketing strategies worked, and which ones might have put you into deep water. We all experience hits and misses as we grow so focus on the positive more than the negatives while reviewing. The important thing is that you are taking a look at your overall goals and setting new ones which is a key component in increasing your sales in the new year.
Now let’s brainstorm… What are your goals going into the new year? We asked a group of people about their business goals in relation to their marketing and these were some commonalities we thought we would share to inspire your planning.
Social media marketing goals
- Increase engagement and shares across all platforms.
- TRY and produce “viral” content — it’s important to point out the TRY. There is no magic button.
- Increase reach to new customers.
- Increase leads.
- To educate customers on your brand, increase brand awareness, and improve brand consistency.
- Improve response time to clients or commit to responding regularly.
- Increase follower count.
Website Goals
- Increase leads.
- Create better accessibility — to have a more user-friendly experience (including on mobile).
- Make the website more informative and showcase products and services.
- Create specific landing pages for advertising to help increase conversions.
- Offer products online to become an e-commerce brand.
Now, if we reached these goals, what would happen?
Social media marketing goals VS benefits to achieving them
- Increase engagement and shares across all platforms or produce “viral” content.
- The algorithms will showcase your posts to a wider audience.
- Increase reach to new customers.
- Increases the chance of generating more leads
- Increase leads.
- More leads = more potential customers = more sales
- To educate customers on your brand, increase brand awareness, and improve brand consistency.
- Showcasing how your product or service will help the customer could result in a sale. Also helps to increase our reach capturing a wider audience, and customers will think of your brand over your competitors.
- Improve response time to clients or commit to responding regularly.
- Establishes trust and builds a relationship with your audience.
- Increase follower count.
- To reach a wider audience
Website goals VS benefits of achieving them
- Increase leads.
- More leads = more potential customers = more sales
- Create better accessibility — to have a more user-friendly experience (including on mobile).
- Easier for customers to purchase on your website which increases sales opportunities.
- Make the website more informative and showcase products and services.
- Helps customers discover how your products or services would benefit them and increases your search engine ranking which means more reach overall without paying for it.
- Create specific landing pages for advertising to help increase conversions.
- Increase sales using lead generation tactics and helps decrease your cost per click while also helping to increase your conversion rates.
- Offer products online to become an e-commerce brand.
- Increases sales opportunities while allowing customers to have a faster and more convenient buying experience without having to man a brick-and-mortar store all the time in order to sell your product or service.
As you can see each goal above is pretty specific with a clear cause and effect that correlates back to your sales. By planning out your goals, not only in general as to what you will achieve but what the benefit of achieving that goal is, you will choose better goals. You’ll also have a vision as to what you want to achieve to motivate you and keep you on track. If you want to take it one step further you could also outline what you will do specifically to work towards that goal and add deadlines for things to be achieved.
Now, looking at the whole year in advance is great but, to make your goals more achievable break them down into smaller tasks that add up to that achievement. Then outline them by quarter, and by week. Each small step each week is like climbing the next small rung on that huge ladder in front of you.
Some of those to-do items might look like this:
- engage with 10 social media followers this week
- post 3 times to all social media platforms
- write and post a blog each week
- create a new landing page for X product by next Tuesday
Having time-sensitive goals lights a fire from underneath you curbing procrastination. It also makes it clear whether you have hit that goal or not. When we can actively cross something off our to-do list each week it’s more fulfilling than if we just look at the goal each week wondering when we are going to finally achieve it.
Speaking of goals. Write them down on a post-it note and keep them handy by your office, on your computer screen, the wall nearby. With every marketing decision you have in mind, come back to these goals and ask yourself “Does doing X get me closer or further away from achieving my goals?”
To help you turn those goals into wins we’ve outlined a few BONUS MARKETING TACTICS for you which we use in our clients’ campaigns to help them specifically increase their sales.
Remember, customers, are buying your products or services to benefit themselves, regardless of what you are offering. Think deeply about the value of your products and services. This is the most effective way to turn someone into a customer.
Focus on and target the right customers individually
What’s the point in advertising to a huge group of people if they are not likely to buy from you? Trying to be everything to everyone is a HUGE MISTAKE! Develop a buyer persona (a specific overview of who your customer is, what they do, what they care about, where they live, etc.) Then do extensive research on the needs, wants problems, values, and behaviour of those customers. Once you have this outline, gear everything in your marketing and advertising to speak to this person and watch how your sales start to flow in.
Create a specific system to generate more reviews online.
- 81% of people do research online before they buy
- 77% of people do their research on their phones
The majority of people use search engines to start their retail journey and they WILL check your reviews before buying. A major MISS is not being bold enough to ask your customers to leave you a review. You don’t want to demand them but, a simple automated email that goes out when someone buys online asking them what they thought of their purchase might be all you need. Or, if you are service-based, you could send out an email after each deal closes.
Create video content! It is the key to customers’ hearts… and wallets!
Video has seen an enormous rise in popularity in the past few years thanks to TikTok and Instagram Reels. It’s the number one way people consume content online, helps keep your audience engaged, and helps keep your customers more connected to your business.
Specifically use these tactics when creating video content for your business:
- Keep the videos short, and have an engaging “hook” to keep them watching for longer than 3 seconds.
- Showcase someone using the product or service and show how it benefits them
- Send personalized videos to your customers.
- Use an interesting thumbnail. Normally, one with people in it increases conversions.
If you’re truly ready to invest in your business, grow your bottom line, and make 2023 the year your sales skyrocket — Let’s work together.
Call us at (647) 797-8763 or sign up for a free no-obligation consultation to discuss your business goals so we can help you build a successful marketing plan, with real goals, real tactics, and strategies that are proven to work to move that needle forward in your business.
