October is knocking on our door. Do you hear it? From a business perspective, October is the beginning point of the last quarter of the year. For marketers, that typically means that they are pushing to finish out the year while also making plans for next year. Marketing is tasked with promoting the brand so sales goals can be met. Before you delve into your marketing strategy for the new year, consider three marketing questions from the perspective of your target market.

What wows your customers?

What would really catch the attention of your customers? What would cause a buzz amongst them? Incorporate this into your marketing plans. Marketing is charged with calling attention to your brand. When you have done the same old thing again and again, it loses its WOW power. That is why something new is so important to your marketing efforts. So what would make them stand up and take a long look at your brand?

What’s new?

Is there something new in what you are selling? Some industries lend themselves to new products on a cyclical basis (think of car models, for instance.) Other industries are much more staid in their product and service offerings. If you are selling the same thing from one season to the other, you will have to think creatively to get your customers to notice you. However, sometimes old things can be repackaged and sold as something new if you add a little creativity. It is a good idea to change your look every now and then. Think about consumable products, such as soft drinks. They change their packaging for specific seasons, they mix up their look a bit without completely changing their brand. They add a little creativity to the mix and their customers buy it.

So what?

When making marketing plans, we have to ask a key question: so what? So we change our campaign slogan and refresh our look, will it have any impact on our customers or will they simply shrug it all off, having no impact? Every marketer fears that their marketing efforts will fall with a thud before their customers. You can alleviate some of the risk of marketing by doing a test marketing campaign before you charge ahead and make a big splash with your entire marketplace. This is commonly done with large consumer products. This takes some time and planning, but it will tell you a lot about what will work and what will not. If you don’t have the budget to do a full-blown test market, it can be done on a much smaller scale by talking to a couple of clients and asking them to give their opinions of your marketing campaign. Take heart at what they tell you because it is your customers who have the ultimate say in what is WOW-worthy and what is not.

It is nearly October. Before making your marketing plans for next year, do a little digging to find out what will work with your target market.