Your 2020 6-Step Marketing Audit

Is Your Marketing Plan Ready for 2020?

If you haven’t already gotten started, now is the time to begin considering next year’s marketing plans. We’ve compiled six things to consider and help you audit your marketing plan as you look forward to the year ahead:

1. 1. First and foremost, what are your business goals, and what is your growth opportunity for 2020?

      Your marketing efforts should be a direct reflection of your business goals and focus on your best opportunity for growth in order to maximize your marketing budget. Consider what product or service is the most profitable, what is new and innovative to the market, and make sure it solves a need.

      As the entrepreneur and best-selling author, Seth Godin once said, “Everyone is not your customer.”

      Unless you have an unlimited budget, it’s important to pick a focus. Whether it be an industry vertical, demographic or zip code, developing a focus for marketing your business is critical to see positive ROI.

1. 1. Does your current brand reflect who you are today and how you want to grow in 2020?

      There is a thoughtful process that goes into developing a strategy for your brand. At Brew, we believe that your brand is the most important component to your marketing strategy and has the power to influence other aspects of your business including sales, recruiting and leadership development.

      You’ll first want to assess your internal culture, team and brand architecture. What do your employees value most about working for your company? What are the mission, vision and values of the company? Is your leadership team using these statements to influence your company’s culture?

      A detailed competitor analysis can guide the position for your brand so that you differentiate yourself from the competition. Target audience profiling will help understand your customer segments and craft the right message for your ideal customer demographics. You’ll want to ask, what does each customer segment value most when doing business with you? What are the things that matter most to them? All of this information informs the creative approach, key messages and creates the hierarchy of your content, marketing campaigns and website.

1. 1. Does your website act as an effective sales tool for your business?

      Second to your brand, your website is the next most important marketing tool that you’ll need to have updated. To run an effective digital marketing or digital media campaign in 2020, it needs to be more than just an online brochure. Your website should provide valuable information to your target audience, with content that reaches each customer segment at every stage of the customer journey and compels them to take action (or contact you!) when the time is right. Your website should have content written with each audience in mind and should be easy to navigate and experience on various devices.

1. 1. Can your potential customers (easily) find your business online, and once they find you, are you providing consistent and valuable insights to help their business?

      Search Engine Optimization is the practice of positioning your website for higher search results for your desired keywords through proper content architecture, metadata implementation, relevant keyword inclusions in content and more. Many websites are not built with the proper technical SEO foundation, or are built with a “set it and forget it” SEO mentality. The truth is, SEO is constantly evolving, and it takes a close eye to monitor your website and ensure that you are utilizing today’s best practices and techniques.

      In addition, your content should always be up to date, and not just with your company’s information – you should be utilizing your website to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry with relevant articles, findings, case studies and other resources, which in turn can help boost the credibility of your website with search engines.

1. 1. Does your advertising include all the tactics required to reach your audience effectively in today’s marketplace?

      Paid media tactics have changed drastically in the last few years with the introduction of more and more technology, targeting capabilities, automation, personalization, and performance data. With mediums like pay-per-click marketing, over-the-top streaming video ads, programmatic digital display and more, we are able to reach more precisely targeted audiences than ever before. But don’t worry – traditional media is far from extinct. An integrated media campaign that uses the proper mix of traditional and digital media is critical to reaching your intended audience today, and having a media partner that can strategically plan and place your paid efforts is key to successful campaigns.

1. Are you able to show measurable results for your marketing tactics that align your business goals and prove your ROI?

   You may have run marketing campaigns in the past and been less than thrilled with the reporting of results, or unsure how to interpret the data. It’s frustrating to reach the end of a campaign and not be able to show results. That’s why before launching a campaign, it’s important to look at your goals, decide your metrics for success, and determine how you will measure them. During the campaign, you should keep a critical eye on performance, and even be open to making modifications if necessary to achieve your goals. After, you should be able to look at a full report that shows and analyzes the data, not only to show ROI, but also to help in planning future campaigns.

There’s no denying that marketing is evolving, faster than ever before. If you’re unsure about what marketing tactics would best reach your target customers, let us help you evaluate your goals and develop a plan for your brand that will make an impact in 2020.

Brew Agency is a full-service branding and advertising agency based in Baton Rouge, LA that provides strategic marketing solutions for every stage of business. We understand that every organization has unique needs, which is why we customize our approach for everyone, from start-ups to mature businesses looking to evolve and grow. Discover everything we do, or contact us to learn more!