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With 2019 just a blink away, it’s time to think about how you’re going to take your business to the next level.
Entering a new year is like opening a fresh page of a new notebook – full of potential. One of the best ways to attract new customers – and keep those all-important existing ones engaged – is through a marketing plan perfectly tailored to your business and its aims.
At instantprint, we’re all about helping your business flourish. As part of this, we wanted to share our top tips and tricks to help your business grow in the new year. That’s why we’ve created this handy guide to inspire your 2019 marketing plan through:
• recognising new and upcoming trends;
• nailing traditional marketing;
• knowing which key business occasions to plan for; and
• some handy advice on how to get your plan into practice.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get your business on track to thrive in 2019!
Just can't get enough? Read on for extra tips to really excel in 2019!
Chapter 1) Know Your Key Dates – And How to Nail Them
Every year is full of exciting, and sometimes scary, moments that can affect your business in a big way. Looking back, we’ve witnessed GDPR coming into force back in May, a Royal Wedding and even Brexit (which we’ve definitely not heard the end of). Making sure your marketing reflects what’s on your audience’s mind at different key dates in the year is crucial.
You can find the biggest events and holidays to look out for and plan around in 2019 in the download.
And don’t forget to check your local school term dates to make the most of your local school’ holidays and any back-to-school opportunities!
Sometimes trying to plan your marketing strategy ahead can feel like you’re taking a stab in the dark. But it’s important to remember that you don’t have to go after every key date in the calendar; in fact, it’s a lot more effective to pick the ones that really suit your business and, most importantly, your customers.
You know your business better than anyone else. Look for moments that can help get those extra sales. For example:
• If you’re a bakery – create bespoke Valentine’s Day cakes and cookies and show them off in your window with a poster or through a flyer drop in your local area.
• If you’re a charity – host fundraising coffee mornings on key holidays and promote your upcoming events with a PVC banner.
• If you own a restaurant – list your seasonal special events on a roller banner and create your own seasonal menus.
It’s always good to plan for those key holidays that are vital for your business, but we’d always recommend keeping a small budget aside so you can jump on any trending moments in the news or in your local area.
Feeling a little overwhelmed? Don’t be – not when we’ve got plenty of free design templates for all the key holidays! You can customise all of our designs to your heart’s content using our super-easy-to-use online design tool. Click on the free templates below to customise them.
Chapter 2) Good Things Come to Those Who Plan
Ever heard the saying ‘by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail’? Well, there’s a lot of truth in it. In fact, planning is the most important tool when it comes to marketing your business.
From setting goals and targets to measuring performance, planning is key to achieving the results you want. It also helps to make sure everyone in your team is on the same page and working towards the same thing. Find out more in the download!
Chapter 3) 2019 Trends (And How to Adapt Them)
Keeping your business ahead of the game relies solely on your knowledge of the latest trends. But don’t worry, we’re here to lend a hand! We’ve gathered our top 2019 marketing predictions so you can flourish in the new year.
The Power of Personalisation continues to be an important growing need of customers with 44% of consumers saying that will likely become a repeat buyer after a personalised experience (econsultancy, 2018). Explore our trend predictions further in the download.
Chapter 4) Nailing Your Basics – Everyday Marketing Tips
As a small business owner, we know you’re busy being the head of HR, finance, marketing (and everything else) – and sometimes the foundations of marketing are missed. Because of this, we wanted to share how to do the basics brilliantly.
Marketing is full of buzzwords. Having a few of these jargonistic terms under your belt can help strengthen your strategy.
The 4Ps of Marketing
The 4Ps of Marketing (or Marketing Mix) are a combination of factors a business uses to promote their products/services. They’re split into four areas: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
We recommend assessing your 2019 4Ps ahead of time to help guide your marketing efforts for the year. You jot this down in a grid (like we have in the cheat sheet), or even build a bigger document to sit in your 2019 plan – whatever works best for you.
How Do the 4Ps Link to KPIs?
In Chapter 2, ‘Good Things Come to Those Who Plan’, we showed you how to set KPIs for your business. Each of your marketing activities you base on the 4Ps should be measured through KPIs, so they’re very closely linked.
Chapter 5) Your Free Marketing Checklist
Now you’ve got the basics down, it’s time to get your 2019 marketing plan in action! Not sure where to begin? Don’t worry we’ve made a handy checklist so you can make sure you’ve covered all your bases. You'll find this checklist on the download.
We hope these cheat sheets give your business everything it needs to thrive in 2019. And remember, you’ll find all of our top marketing tips, tricks and advice for small businesses and startups over on our Think Big blog. All the best for the new year, from the instantprint team.
