Are you ready for 2013?
Do you have your marketing plan in place? Outlined your stair steps to sales for new clients to existing products or existing clients to new services?
What are the tools and tactics you’re going to use? Are they the most effective – both in results and cost? Easy enough to implement or easy to make a mistake?
Here’s my 5 tips for branding and marketing in the 2013:
1) Don’t give up on Direct Mail just yet: While no one can argue that print media has taken a nose dive, you may not want to discount all the “old school” direct marketing techniques just yet.
Bonus Don’t forget at the start of the new year, new US mail postcard rules go into effect with new postcard rules for smaller sizes and address orientation go into effect from the USPS.
2) Test something new: Do you have a new years resolution for marketing? I’ll bet that mobile is top of the list. However who really wants to see an “ad” on your little phone screen while you’re trying to reply to a text, an email or shoot out a photo for another post?
But there’s lots of ways to use a mobile phone for marketing that don’t involve advertising!
3) Media matching: Make sure you match the media with your target market.
Is it just me, or has some of the social media hype lost it’s shiny halo for marketing? I find that more and more, people are looking for something that works, not just the latest “cool” thing.
Facebook, while hitting 1 billion accounts, often still doesn’t deliver the marketing results that companies want… and can be confusing to implement — even to those in the know (like Mark Zuckerburg’s sister Randi!) with confusing settings.
4) Consider using PR over Ads: PR has the implied endorsement of the media vehicle. Getting free publicity that has some legs can be more cost effective than advertising and last longer too. Looking for some “free” publicity? I’m “regifting” Joan Stewart’s Best Tips of 2012: http://budurl.com/Bestof2012Tips.
5) Write down your marketing plan: It seems like a no-brainer, but written marketing plans have a much high opportunity for success. Even if it’s on the back of a napkin. Who’s your target market? What’s the message you want them to take away? How will you reach them? What the measure of success so you know it was effective?
I’m looking forward to a great 2013 — it’s going to be a fantastic year.
What’s your branding and marketing tips for 2013?
