Labor Day is this Monday. The day that marks the unofficial end of summer is also a key indicator for anyone involved in marketing. This is the beginning of the cycle of marketing planning for the next year that includes deciding what you will be doing to promote your business and coming up with a budget to support it. As you ready yourself for the discussions that make up your strategic marketing plans for the next year, let me lend you a little advice to get you on the right track.

Try something new

Don’t just base your future marketing activities on the success of your past efforts, but on what your customers want from you. The old thing is the old thing. There is a tendency in marketing to keep playing the same record again and again… and customers get tired of dancing to the same song. Marketing should keep things fresh for your customers. Before you plan anything else, listen to what your customers are saying they want from you. Don’t just give them what you think they need: that typically becomes a guessing game that may work or could flop miserably. Take the guessing out of it! Make asking your customers for feedback a key part of your future marketing plans. If you get a sense of what they want, build on it.

Budget for all three phases of marketing

Here is where many modern marketing plans fall down: they spend all their marketing budget on making their target market aware of their brand, but nothing on getting the target to actually buy anything. Big mistake! If marketing is not enticing people to buy what you are selling, you are missing the mark. Brand awareness is very important. No one will buy what they don’t understand. However, they typically won’t buy anything that they are not prompted to buy for the first time. Make sure you are not only putting a portion of your budget towards Awareness and First Time Sales, but also don’t forget your current customers. You need to budget for Retention Marketing as well. If you strike a balance with all three of these phases, you will be working from a well rounded marketing strategy.

Should you budget for little Johnny’s soccer club?

What about all the little asks during the year, especially those that align more with your local community or one of your employee’s kids rather than your target market? There is a long list of charities and non-profit organizations that would love to get a donation from you next year. They will eventually come knocking on your door. There are two things I will say here. First, goodwill is very marketable. If you decide to support the local troupe of campfire girls or some other group, make sure you take advantage of social media posts, the use of your logo on sponsorship signs, and any involvement with these groups. Today’s consumer is more aware than ever of corporate involvement with charities. As a marketer, you are in charge of your brand’s reputation. Make the most of it by getting the word out about your sponsorship. Secondly, I would encourage you to come up with a plan for who you are going to support. Let me explain. I have worked with companies that let their employees drive where charitable marketing dollars go. This is usually a joint effort between HR and Marketing departments. It is best when you have some parameters, such as an employee of the company has to be involved in the charity before you will give them money, or you decide what types of charities fit your employees the best. For instance, we have a current customer that is very involved in the prevention of child abuse. They support charities that are advocates for children in this area. That means they don’t give to a whole host of other worthy causes because they have focused their efforts as a company on one issue.

There is one other consideration with your charitable giving: what is the involvement of your current customers? You can score points with them if you find a charity to which they also feel strongly.

One more thing

One other consideration you should plan on in your marketing: find a way to touch people. We are living in a time where so much of our communication lacks a personal touch. But the need for interaction between your employees and your customers is crucial to your marketing. One of the big reasons people leave vendors is they don’t have a personal connection with them. It is easy for a consumer to feel like they are not valued by a company. If you want to be successful in marketing, you have to touch people. Plan on it.

Labor Day is the unofficial start of the marketing planning season. Make sure you are planning from an informed position this year. Your business success for the next year depends upon it.