Ready to put a bow on 2022? Throughout the year, as focus shifts to running the day-to-day operations and daily tasks, it can be easy to let your marketing efforts fall by the wayside. Many businesses and organizations think the only way to have success is to kick-off the new year with a fresh marketing strategy. Before you ring in the new year, our Creative Crew made you a marketing checklist that you won’t have to check twice!
Make Sure Your Messaging Matches Your Mission
It never hurts to go back to the drawing board at the end of the year and take a good, hard look at your organization’s “why?”. That mission and vision statement you carefully crafted at your company’s inception should serve as your guide for the words and brand voice you’re using to reach your audience. How are the words you are using in your communications making your audience feel? If somewhere along the way, what you are saying became inconsistent with why you’re saying it in the first place, now is the time to get your messaging back on track. On the contrary, if your messaging shifted for a valid reason, it may be time to rethink your mission and make some adjustments. Either way, the two should align to elevate your credibility and authenticity.
Get the steps to merge your messaging and mission. ➔
Audit Your Visual Identity
Your visual identity is the look and feel your brand portrays in all of your outward facing communications. It should align with your mission and vision the same way your messaging does, in that it should evoke a desired feeling and reflect your purpose. A nature spa who wants their audience to feel relaxed and tranquil would typically avoid using the color red paired with bold, jagged fonts. It may seem obvious, but even with the most thorough and detailed brand guidelines, it’s possible for a company’s visual identity to become a bit scattered over the course of a year.
Audit your visuals from 2022 and check that the colors, typefaces, and graphics/images used are consistent and in line with your brand’s guidelines. If you find that there is a clear shift happening in the look and feel of your graphics, ask yourself “why?”. Maybe your audience is resonating more with a look that is in contrast with what you originally outlined? If so, it could be time for a re-brand. In any case, utilizing branded templates for social media graphics, email campaigns, and print collateral can help your organization maintain the consistent visual identity required to build familiarity amongst your audience.
Make unifying your visuals simple with our FREE checklist ➔
Review Your Social Strategy
How did your social media performance stack up against your other marketing channels? Have you met your overall marketing KPIs for 2022? Did your brand experience a measurable impact from your social media performance? With the accuracy of how you can effectively measure your digital marketing efforts, there isn’t a reason why your brand should be guessing if your social media is turning clicks into customers.
Take a look at how your organic posts and paid ads performed on different platforms throughout the year. What days of the week and times of day did they perform best? What types of content received the most engagement? Making adjustments to your content schedule by posting more of what your audience wants, when they are most likely to see it, will maximize your social media efforts and increase awareness of your brand.
Ready to amp up your social strategy in 2023? ➔
Refresh Your Website or Online/Social Presence
Your website or social media pages are where people will go to learn more about you before starting to connect or show interest in your product or service. As you go throughout the year, staying on top of your online presence can be a challenge. The end of the year is a great time to update your organization’s website with any products, or services you’d like to highlight; update your bio and/or skills on your ‘About’ page; add a case study to showcase a recent project; or share a testimonial or review that you have received throughout the year.
Not only will it showcase your value and tell your most current “story” to your audience, it will be satisfying to look back at all you’ve accomplished and how you’ve grown/changed over the past year.
Here’ s a comprehensive list of things to consider updating. ➔
Thank Your Clients and Partners
This one is less “marketing strategy” and more “good business practice”, but we still think it’s worth mentioning as we approach the season of gratitude and giving. It’s not too early to start ordering some holiday greeting cards, and thinking of little ways you can show your appreciation to everyone who supported you throughout the year. Whether it’s a coupon code offering a discount on your products or services, or a thoughtfully curated gift basket, acknowledging your partners and patrons at the end of year lets them know how much you value them.
FMN Creative is a full-service, award-winning Social Media Agency that turns clicks into customers for a roster of clients that include nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, course creators, B2B organizations, and more.
