The last few years have been incredibly difficult for many businesses, but the end of every financial year is an opportunity for business owners to inject energy and purpose into their business.
If the last year has been tricky or disappointing, stay focused and positive. Remember, employees look to their leaders in difficult times so planning and communicating the plans for the year ahead will boost staff morale and optimism for the future!
Start by evaluating the overall performance of the business; look at whether you need to reassess your business model or proposition, and review your communications and routes to market.
Here are 8 simple and morale boosting projects to help boost next year's sales:
1. Review last year’s sales figures
Good or bad, you sales figures show you how well (or not) the business did over the last year. From a marketing perspective, look at where new enquiries came from; marketing channels, promotions, sales people, events etc.. How many leads were converted? If you lost business opportunities or customers, analyse the data to find out why?
Consider what sells well, who is buying, why they bought from you, what are you doing well, and what are you not so good at.
Analyse your website traffic find out where visitors are coming from, trends, popular (or not so popular) web pages or blogs, and combine this with sales lead data to calculate any ROI from digital marketing.
2. Get sales feedback
Your sales team will give you a deeper insight into the quality of leads generated through marketing. We know that some sales teams like to pick the juiciest fruit from the tree and put smaller, less ripe leads to one side. However, every lead is valuable at they tell you whether you are attracting the right customers. It’s also important to ascertain how each lead is followed up.
Sales teams are also very good at requesting sales tools to help them do their jobs, so check which ones are currently working well and if there are any specific sales prospecting areas that need to be improved then they can be added in to the marketing plan.
3. Write a summary marketing report
Now that you have some insight into activities and results over the past year, you can prepare a summary report on the marketing activities and outcomes. Try to be objective because it will help you to see what activities worked well, which ones need adjusting or if a change of tactic is required. The summary marketing report should outline all of the activities planned; what you did, where, how, what was achieved and what it all cost. This will help to set your new marketing plan.
4. Review the business strategy
Marketing plans are written around the business strategy and more often than not, they change over the course of a year. Before starting the marketing new plan, evaluate the current business strategy:
Are there any new products or services being launched next year?
Are you targeting new markets?
Are you still selling to the right customers?
Are there ways that you can do things differently or more efficiently?
Are there any planned mergers or acquisitions?
Does the brand strategy need to be reviewed?
5. Review marketing costs
A good marketing plan should enable you to stick within budget, but there are always eventualities that lead to adjustments or overspend so having a contingency budget is advised.
Review supplier costs to ensure that you are getting good value and that there were no ‘unforeseen’ costs. Negotiating early will help to get better prices on all marketing costs – don’t be afraid to haggle! If you’re in any doubt about the quality of service you receive, shop around!
6. Define the new marketing strategy
The marketing strategy has to be in line with the business strategy. Before writing the new plan, also consider whether communications are still in line with the brand purpose? What are your USP's? How will you reach target audiences? How will you compete with industry leaders? What marketing channels are most effective and cost-effective? Consider your prime goals and core message. How will you increase brand awareness? Do you have the right in-house skills? Will you need an external partner i.e., an affiliate or distributor? Will you require any special marketing tools or new skills?
7. Draft the new marketing plan
The marketing plan needs to be written and costed as early as possible to allow time for any adjustments and budget planning. If you don't have these skills, outsource the job to an expert who will ensure that goals are achievable and measurable. Budgets should include all external costs i.e. events, advertising, design, PR etc. Set KPI’s and responsibilities and set a date for discussion, finalising and sign off.
8. Prepare positive end of year news
The end of the financial year is the time to give a round-up of achievements and goals both customers and employees. Positive stories will give confidence to all stakeholders so share all the good news from the year past and the plans for the coming year.
Reviewing and planning gives you the opportunity to reassess where you've been, where you are now and where you want to be in the future.
With energy and positivity, you can prime your business so that it's ready for a bumper future! And, your customers and employees will see that you are resilient and stronger than ever!
If you need help with any of the above, please get in touch.
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