4 marketing moves to start the New Year off right

As the holiday season enters full swing and the year winds down, it can be easy to coast and enjoy the marketing successes of the past year. But what can you be doing in these final four weeks to hit the ground running next year? Here are 4 ideas to get you started. 

1) Review and fine tune your analytics 

Remember that billboard space you bought last March or the new ebook you promoted using Facebook? Marketing moves fast and it can be hard to paint an accurate picture of what efforts worked and which did not. A good place to start is to review your website analytics. A few things you can look for are:

• Spikes in traffic: did they occur around a certain event or initiative?
• Conversions: how many form submissions, downloads or subscribes did you have?
• Top pages: which pages receive the most traffic on your site? Why?

Although these are high-level metrics, they can highlight overarching trends and help you tie results back to specific marketing actions.

We also highly recommend that you create custom dashboards and reports within Google Analytics so that checking your data does not become an afterthought. If you aren't regularly reviewing your website performance, it is hard to show value and results. Check out this example interactive report created using Google's Data Studio. In fact, we actually have a special offer to help set up custom goals and automated reports.

2) Conduct customer interviews or surveys 

Most companies assume they have a really firm understanding of who their audiences are. However, there is always more that can be learned. A great way to gather more insight is to conduct end-of-year customer surveys or phone interviews. I think you may be surprised by what you find. Some example questions might be:

1. What blogs, news sites or social platforms do you use the most?
2. How many work emails do you get per day? (20, 50, 100+)
3. What do you currently use our website for and when was the last time you visited our site?

Your survey questions should help create a clear picture of your different audience types. For example, how you market to the working mother should be different than how you market to the 25-year-old millennial. Not only can you use this information to create audience personas but also a custom marketing plan for each. Check out our audience persona creation guide here. 

Quick tip – Offer a $100 Amazon gift card drawing to increase participation.

3) Audit your website 

Even if you don't believe you are due for a complete website redesign, you should always be looking for ways to improve your website. We have a few resources to help you out:

Website Redesign Blueprint [Ebook]

How to conduct a mini website audit [Worksheet]

We also conduct complete website blueprints, which is often the first step to a website redesign or improved website. This process includes a marketing / content review, new sitemap, set of wireframes and development plan. This will allow you to be armed with an appropriate budget and clear plan when you need to get your yearly budget approved. Send us a note if you are interested in learning more. 

4) Jump start your editorial calendar 

Every year you make the promise to regularly blog. However, it can be easy to fall behind due to busy team schedules and lack of good ideas / inspiration. Get a head start this year by creating a detailed editorial calendar for you and your team. Use a tool such as Trello to help visualize the process and due dates.

Also, don't forget that each post needs a:

• Target audience 
• End goal (subscribers, offer, contact, share, etc.)
• Engaging image
• Promotion plan
• Author – If this is another member of your staff, be sure they are aware and held accountable.

*Quick tip – if it is hard to get colleagues to write, consider recording and transcribing conversations with them rather than having them write the post on their own.

If you can already foresee content falling to the bottom of the list, allocate some budget to hiring an agency or copywriter. Read about the pros and cons of outsourcing this process, as it's important to know the potential risks and gains. The key to great content is consistency and without it, you are likely wasting your time.

Cheers to 2017 & a year of marketing that uses your analytics, optimizes your site, builds up your content, and best of all, reaches your audience.