5 Things That Should Be Added To Your 2022 Marketing Plan

If you’re reading this and thinking that it’s kooky to be mulling changes to your 2022 marketing plan more than halfway into 2022, then congrats! Turns out this information is for you. See, the thing is that when it comes to a successful marketing plan, the only thing that is consistent throughout its integration is change. Shifts in the market and those that inhabit it wreak havoc on a static marketing plan.

There’s No Room for Standing Still

The goal is to have a dynamic, malleable plan that can adapt as needed. Perhaps the best advice on the importance of adaptation to move forward comes from the late martial arts legend, Bruce Lee:

“…be formless, shapeless, like water…water can flow, or it can crash…Be water…”

In essence, the notion of being ‘like water’ is all about understanding two things. First, your environment will shape you and how you operate momentarily. And second, your ability to grow and adapt between environments carries significant power.

Watch the news for a week, especially right now, and you’ll see an endless array of shifts going on in the business world. Everyone, including the biggest high-rollers to the casual lower-middle class consumer, is on edge about what the future holds. Nonetheless, consumer spending is still taking place. This means that businesses have to find ways to reach these consumers. THIS is why having a great marketing plan makes a big difference.

It Takes Work to Be Successful

Still, there’s a good chance that many folks aren’t too interested in shifting gears more than midway through the year simply because it feels like too much work for very little reward. But is it? Operational expenses don’t take a backseat from Q1 to Q4. Rent, utilities, product development, employee wages, it all hangs in the balance of how well a business does EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

So, get out your 2022 marketing plan and take a seat with your marketing team. Here are a few things you need to address:

• assess growth from the previous year and compare with stated goals for 2022
• be honest about what strategies/campaigns worked…or didn’t
• establish actual short-term/long-term growth goals
• don’t use MQL (marketing qualified lead) & SQL (sales qualified lead) interchangeably
• make note of changes with your competition
• assess your market often
• assess your costs on all fronts and between timeframes

A Hard Look in the Mirror

In case you hadn’t noticed, the big theme for your 2022 marketing plan is assessment. Business owners, no matter the size of the operation, are notorious for coming up with real doozies as to why numbers aren’t where they want them to be. The again, no one wants to shout from the rooftops, “Hey! I’m bad at business!!!” But unless you’re willing to be honest about where your operation stands, you’ll never be better. One of the more useful acronyms your marketing plan needs is SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This type of analysis is crucial for getting a solid idea of what your business is now and what it can be in the future.

There’s a lot of number-crunching involved in developing, and assessing, a good marketing plan, which may scare away a lot of people. This is where working with a firm that specializes in data analysis is vital. MindEcology is an Austin advertising agency that doubles as a data science powerhouse. Our goal is to crunch the numbers and get them working for you. Click here to talk to someone on our team today.