We know. There’s still plenty of time left in 2018 and you have a lot more goals you want to achieve with your current marketing strategy. While that may be the case, it’s not too early to start thinking about the digital marketing strategy you’ll use next year. In fact, now is the perfect time to create a strategy that will be successful in 2019.
Take a Look Back
If you studied psychology, then you know that the best indicator of what a person will do in the future is what they’ve done in the past. Similarly, you can figure out what might work in 2019 by looking back at what was successful this year.
While there’s still time left in 2018, you still have plenty of data you can review to identify the marketing tactics that drove business and those that fell short of the mark. As you look over your data, look for clues that indicate why certain things were effective at achieving your goals while others weren’t.
Update Your Ideal Client Profiles
Are you the same as you were at the start of 2018? If you’re like a lot of other people, you’ve probably gone through some changes over the past year. With that in mind, don’t you think the members of your target market have also gone through some changes? Of course they have!
Because people are changing all the time, you need to update your ideal client profiles before you start brainstorming about your new marketing strategy. Study your target audience and look for new pain points, wants and needs. Incorporate the information you find into your buyer personas so they more accurately reflect your ideal clients as they are now.
Document Your Marketing Objectives and Goals
While it’s usually appropriate to use the words “objectives” and “goals” interchangeably, we’re going to use goals to refer to your broad-based targets and objectives to refer to all the milestones you have to hit to reach your goals. To create a marketing strategy for 2019, it’s vital for you to identify your goals and objectives and to document them thoroughly. Once your goals and objectives are documented, you need to set up a mechanism to hold people accountable for their roles in working toward them.
Plan by Marketing Channel
With your goals, objectives, accountability mechanism and updated personas in place and a review of your 2018 marketing strategy done, it’s now time for you to come up with a plan for each of your marketing channels. It’s wise to make your plans by month, quarter and year. Here are some of the marketing channels you may want to make plans for:
- Direct marketing
- Print advertising
- Digital advertising
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Public relations
When your plans are complete, you’ll have the basis for a rock-solid marketing strategy for 2019.
Get Help from Our Internet Marketing Company
While we make creating a marketing strategy for 2019 sound pretty easy, it can be a challenge for many business owners and managers. If you need help with your strategy, our Internet marketing company can help because we offer a full suite of services, which includes strategizing for businesses across industries. Contact DB Marcom today and let our experts create and execute a marketing strategy that will elevate your business to the next level of success in 2019.
