The end of financial is approaching, and it’s the best time to start thinking about your marketing strategy for next year. If you have marketing budget remaining, it's also a good time to test new strategies and channels.

We’ve put together a list of 7 Pretty Vicious, quick and effective marketing investments for you to consider.

REVIEW YOUR BUDGET COMPARED TO YOUR SPEND

Firstly, check you have no outstanding invoices with supplier’s etc. Then ask yourself whether the past years #marketingspend (if any) delivered on the #businessgoals you identified. Would a larger #marketinginvestment have captured more customers? Considering your year-end approach can ensure that you have a plan in place to support your next phase of growth.

TRY SOMETHING NEW

If your plans last year have gone well, this could be a great time to experiment a bit. You should always allocate a small portion of your marketing spend to trying something new. Exactly what that looks like is going to depend on your business’s goals and current marketing efforts. For some brands, that might mean investing in experiential marketing (see our blog post "what is experiential marketing”), online advertising or paid social. For others, it might be a cool video.  It might mean testing a new social channel to see if there’s any traction there.

ANALYSE YOUR CUSTOMER'S BEHAVIOUR

Looking at your #customerbehavior, such as response to marketing initiatives, online search history and buying patterns can indicate which of your previous promotions were most successful over the course of the year (and which could have performed better).

REACH OUT TO YOUR DATABASE, PREVIOUS CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS

Send an end-of-year email to your customer’s simply saying thank you for their business. If you haven't been keeping up with your database, use this time to update your records, determine ways to segment your target audiences, and perhaps begin plans for the following fiscal year marketing activities.

RE-PURPOSE AND AMPLIFY YOUR CONTENT

Even successful — and supposedly played-out — campaigns can get new life by extending the message through re-purposing.  Find out what was your most successful piece of content throughout the year, take the core info in it and create a new asset in a new format. Find ways to squeeze a bit more life out of the great work you've already done.

REVIEW MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY ACTIVITY

At the end of the financial year you’ll have an entire year’s worth of data you can leverage to assess a reasonably accurate analysis of monthly, quarterly and annual #performancetrends. In addition to this you should consider how you might develop or adjust your marketing calendars to complement slow months with more promotions, and invest less in months that business is strong for you.

TEAM UP WITH A PROFESSIONAL

Your brand should gather feedback on your current marketing plan (if you had one) from an expert. You can do this with a Pretty Vicious Health Check, which will review your previous activities, goals, marketing campaigns, core messages, marketing spend, not to mention identify your opportunities, strengthen your brands messaging as well as measure impact and success going forward.

Year-end may feel like a conclusion, but remember for small business's and start-up’s this is a marathon not a sprint! This is an ideal time to bring in a Pretty Vicious Marketing consultant as a sounding board for your marketing plans, so get in touch.  By leveraging the results of what you’ve been doing or setting plans in motion for the next year, you’ll be able to develop a robust marketing calendar that consistently supports your brand’s needs, goals and growth.

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Until next time...

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