10 things to think about in your 2012 marketing strategy

This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on November 1, 2011 @ 9:01 am

The end of 2011 is fast approaching, and now is a great time to assess your marketing strategy for 2012. Here are a few areas you might like to consider:

1. Social networks: Nearly every major company has a presence on them, but being on every new network for the sake of it isn’t necessarily worthwhile. Consider how you wish to engage with your customers, and therefore which social networks you need to be prioritising. Clearly establish how you wish to be seen by your audience, and therefore how to conduct yourself on them to achieve this. Look out for new up and coming social networks like Google+ and Tumblr and establish if it’s worth having an early presence there
2. QR codes: These are barcodes that can be printed pretty much anywhere, and read by a camera phone to provide encoded information like pictures, special offers or URLs to websites where you can provide additional content. Think about how best you can utilise them to integrate your offline and online campaigns, as well as how to make it worthwhile for your customers to decode them.
3. Search: Personal online searching based on location metrics and interests is the next big thing. How can your online strategy reflect this? Are you utilising tracking cookies and analytics to gain information about your customers?
4. Content: It’s still king. What knowledge are you providing and how? Do you have a marketing communications plan? Are you keeping up with developments in your industry? By planning for all eventualities and setting out where you want to be in the future, your marketing strategy will have a clear focus and keep you a step ahead at all times.
5. The media: Bloggers, journalists and early adopters are crucial to success in some industries. Who’s who in yours, and how can you get them on your side?
6. Website: What is its function for your business? Is it just a landing page, or is it a way to actively generate leads? Who maintains it and are they doing a good enough job? Is there potential for growth that you’re missing out on? Think about your audience, what they’re currently getting out of your website, what you’re getting out of your audience, and what more you can do to engage customers online.
7. Dialogue: How are you communicating information to your customers? How valuable is that information to them? Is there a more effective way to engage your customers? Are you listening to what they have to say to you, and are there feedback channels for them to do so? Consider how your customers interact with you, and what you can do to remove the barriers.
8. Innovation: What are you not doing that you could or should be doing? What new marketing channels could you utilise? How can you reach your customers in a way that hasn’t been done before? Think about what your competitors are doing, and how you can get an edge on them.
9. Strategy: Do you have a plan going forward? Where do you want to be in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months? Does your marketing strategy reflect this? Is it futureproof?
10. Learning from 2011: Twitter has continued to explode, deal-of-the-day group discount websites are in, ‘checking in’ and location specific marketing is getting bigger. Google+ and LinkedIn are soaring in popularity, as well as Facebook introducing new features. How have you adapted to this in 2011? And what are you going to do in 2012?

There’s still plenty of time to review your strategy before the end of the year, but equally you don’t want to leave it too late and spend all of 2012 playing catch-up. Get in touch with Xander Marketing on 0118 321 7620 to find out more about how to make 2012 your year.

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