25 Tips to SUPERCHARGE your Marketing in ’25 (part 4)
Part 4 – With funding, time and human resources constantly under pressure, how can you supercharge your marketing quickly and easily?
Whether you’re marketing to businesses or consumers, our 25 top tips will help you plan and deliver a year of successful and measurable marketing activations. Here’s part 4 of the series.
And of course, if you need help to make your ideas fly, get in touch with us today!
20. Don’t overcommit yourself – or your team
This links back to tip #4: setting a few key themes that you continually reinforce throughout the year, versus putting out lots of disparate stories that don’t gain traction. And remember: it’s always better to do a few things really well, rather than lots of things badly. Think social media: rather than trying to be across every platform, use the data to understand which one(s) work best for you. Ditch the others, and focus on sharing out regular, impactful and relevant content on the one or two bring in the bucks.A final tip: every business wants a newsletter, and it seems like a great idea… and certainly it can be a great way of keeping warm prospects, or triggering past customers to buy from you again. But don’t commit to it being a weekly or monthly thing. (Honestly, people aren’t watching their inboxes waiting for it to drop.) Make it ad-hoc, when you have something interesting to share.
21. An event is never just an event
Building on the previous tip, help yourself by making an event – whether B2C or B2C – part of a bigger campaign. Think of it as another channel through which you activate your planned content and themes – in speeches and podcasts, on your stand (if you have one) – rather than pressurising yourself to come up with something completely new to showcase. Ramp up social posts, advertising, customer communications and PR before and during the event, leveraging existing themes and content. Then have a plan to capitalise on the business generated at the event itself – with measurement criteria and controls in place, of course! ROI, need I say more?
22. Make the most of your CRM tool
Even the smallest business should have a way of capturing, managing, and leveraging their prospect and customer data. My very first tip talked about the importance of using data to help drive strategy and decision-making; your CRM tool should be at the very heart of this. If you’re an SME, it needn’t be over-engineered or costly – some tools give you access to basic features for free. Whatever platform you choose, make sure it’s built to deliver insights that help you meet your goals – whether they are to deepen customer engagement or drive new in-bound sales. And insights are only as good as the data behind them. To be blunt: crap in, crap out! Make sure your data is well organised and up-to-date. And look to find a CRM that makes your life easier – some integrate with other platforms like Xero, others have additional features such as project management and timesheets, meaning you don’t need multiple tools to manage your business – and hopefully reducing overall costs.
23. Find your tribe
Broaden your horizons beyond your own team and industry. It’s very easy to get caught up in focusing on what your competitors are doing – however some of the best inspiration for ground-breaking marketing campaigns can come from beyond your industry. So, get out there and network. This is especially important if you’re the only marketer in your business, or part of a small team. If you work with agencies, build relationships with them and talk marketing beyond the scope of your projects. What else are they working on? What’s on the minds of their other customers? Sign up for local and online events which have content both in your areas of interest and across topics where you need to build knowledge. Don’t know how to make a CRM work for you? /Sign up for a webinar where you can get some tips. Want to better understand the importance of PR and how it links to marketing? Listen to a podcast. I’m currently obsessed with ‘When it hits the fan’ on Spotify – they have some fab ‘quick wins’ episodes too, on subjects like ‘how to use storytelling’.
24. Sustainability is not a phase
With people’s need for authenticity (tip #7) comes an increased scrutiny on an organisation’s commitment to sustainability. Greenwashing is not acceptable; people know when you’re faking, and a failure to deliver on pledges you make will damage your brand. That said, you can be honest about being on a journey in this space. Take the opportunity to showcase ways in which you’re making changes, for example designing new product packaging that’s entirely recyclable.