We don’t mean to be the marketing goals police, but time is ticking. And even though, we’re two months away from bidding adieu to 2017, this time is perfect for you to sit down and make a decent draft of your goals for 2018.
The new year always comes much sooner than you think.
Back in February, we spoke about the three things your content marketing strategy must have. We’re glad to see that all of these items have had some level of stardom throughout this year. Our sixth sense is on point, and if you embraced them this year, so is yours!
Now, this doesn’t mean that you get to sleep on your marketing efforts ‘till January. In fact, no matter how exhausted you feel right now, we strongly encourage you to keep your eyes open and start looking ahead to next year’s goals.
No, it’s not too early. And, if we look at the biggest power players of marketing, such s Neil Patel and the Content Marketing Institute, they’re already talking about 2018’s trends.
Neil and Joe are always ahead of the game. #Goals
So, take off your Halloween costume, put away those Christmas decorations, and get your marketing goals going, with the help of these three key points.
(we just really like the number 3 when it comes to goals, okay?)
Keep Impulsing Your Wins
Us at Motion don’t believe in being complacent just because we won at something: whether it was by implementing a grand email marketing strategy or building the ultimate landing page or crafting the craziest social media campaign. After all, when good things happen, you want to keep them going right?
If a marketing tactic is working, keep it going for next year, but be flexible enough to allow changes during 2018. Our tasks have changed a lot since 2016, and they will continue evolving in the new year.
Need suggestions on how to keep a win going?
- Take it up a notch, to keep competition at bay. For example, if your goal was to achieve 20% more subscribers for 2017, try going up to 30%.
- Try to adapt it for another client or another stage of your brand’s buyer’s journey.
- Help other team members, or even other marketers, to implement it with their brands.
Flip Around Your Losses
Okay, well, maybe you can’t recover from investing in this year’s Fyre Festival, but you can pick yourself up from most stumbling blocks in your plans for this year. Be it because of bad timing or a less than optimal execution (let’s get real), you probably have one or two goals that fell short from your expectations.
If this is your case, we give you permission to conduct a proper marketing post-mortem to find out what really stopped your project from reaching the finish line. Staying open to the findings you get out of this process will give you the clues you need to fix before trying it again or give you substantial reasons to let it die.
Whether you decide to tone your goal down for next year or to focus on something else, make sure to understand what went wrong. Studying our failures is not a comfortable process, but it’s the one that will help you mature as a marketer.
Plus, customers can tell the brands that improve from their mishaps from the ones who don’t.
Only Try out New Things If They Align with Your Big Picture
Is a chatbox necessary for your business?
Does your audience care about that podcast you want to advertise in?
Do you have the workforce to put out ten newsletters a week for your brand?
Mom was right: just because everyone else is doing it, that doesn’t mean that you have to do it too.
Mom is always right, or is she?
But, we have a small caveat: know how to differentiate between spending money and time on trends because of FOMO and refusing to adopt a new practice because it’s “just a fad.” Video is no longer a fad, SEO is here to stay and so are the many uses of AI (we live in the future, remember).
Before integrating something new into your 2018 marketing plan, or refusing to do so, think about your brand’s big picture, the long-term view you have of what your brand should stand for.
Thus, if you value seamless customer service, then sharpen up your social media listening skills, or get serious with a strong chatbot. If your buyer persona is addicted to podcasts, then plan out ways to be part of one (by advertising or running one of your own). Finally, even though we don’t recommend sending SO MANY emails per week if you can pull it off without abandoning your other duties, and it’s aligned with your business plan, do it!
CONCLUSION:
Having a couple of months ahead to plan out your new year has two significant advantages. First, you’re still in the middle of the action for 2017, so your mind won’t be blank when coming up with new goals. Most importantly, you don’t have the pressure of executing your new goals RIGHT NOW, so no working with a rough New Year’s party hangover.
Do you have your first 2018 goals set up already? Tell us in the comments below.