A marketer’s guide to better strategic planning in FY23
If you’re a marketer, the end of the financial year is a busy time. Not only are you likely in a spending frenzy to ensure you use every last cent in this year’s budget (before you lose it) or on an EOFY promo turntable in a last attempt to close the gap on your annual sales targets…
…You’re also on the hook for next financial year’s brand plan. New budgets are being discussed. Media planning needs to take place. And the all-important question raises its head once more: what will we do with our brand in the new year?
While you might be thinking, slow down Tiger, it’s only April… Before you know it, April will be May, and in a blink of an eye May will be June. And just like that, you’re floundering into the new year with no plan.
Sound familiar?
It takes time to develop a brand strategy effectively (up to 3 months even) but it’s worth the effort to make sure your life as a marketer (and not to mention the brand activity you’re responsible for) is a little less haphazard in FY23.
To help get you off to a cracking start, we’ve put together this blog as a checklist to working through the initial steps to developing a compelling brand strategy that is sure to move you in the right (well, better) direction next year.
The first step to the process is to take stock and reflect on the year that was. To have any success at building brand influence (and influence = power), you must never lose touch with the world around, and importantly, how that world sees your brand.
Start by looking inwards.
The easiest way to trigger this process, is to look at how your business performed. Here are a few questions to work through:
How did your business perform overall? What was the biggest growth and decline from a financial POV?
What was your biggest success (by any metric), and why?
What was your biggest customer learning (by any metric), and why?
When was the last time you gathered feedback from your customers? (hint: if not in the last 6 months, add this to your ‘to do’ list). If so, what were some of the themes?
How much did each of your customer segments (if you have more than one) contribute to your results? (Look at both volume, and value)
Did you target and acquire the right kind of customers/clientele?
Were they profitable and good to work with? (hint: If they’re valuable in terms of $$ but suck the life, time and efficiency out of you and your team, dissipating margins and sanity in more ways than one, then go back to the drawing board. Your ideal target market should be profitable, sizeable, and somewhat enjoyable – however which way your customers engage with you).
How did your marketing funnel perform? Were there any cracks or craters hindering lead generation, conversions, or even retention rates?
What other audience insights have you gathered through your marketing activations? Any themes or thought starters?
The point of this step is to review the insights that you have on hand. Upon reflection, ask yourself, what is it that you need to change, challenge or chase in FY23 now that you know what you do? This should leave you with a starting point for next year’s objectives.
Now, peer outwards.
You’ve gone inwards and you’ve answered all the questions above (at the very least). Now, it’s time to peer outwards of your brand (and business) to uncover any additional clues that could slow down or supercharge your brand’s ability to thrive. Making informed decisions when it comes to what you do with your brand, removes personal bias. By removing personal bias you increase your chance of appealing to the purse strings (AKA your customers) as opposed to the opinions of the powers that be (AKA every man and his dog inside of your organisation who thinks they’re a better marketer than you).
Start by taking the following steps:
Who are your competitors and what are they up to? Check out their website and other marketing material. Try and describe them in one word based on what you see.
Did you know that you can see what Facebook ads your competitors are running? Go to the ads section of their account. Quickest way to find out what they care about right now.
Where does your brand sit in the line up against your competitors? How do you fare their special sauce?
Consult the big man (eh eh Google) and see what people have been searching for in relation to your category or product/service keywords. What words do they use? Are there any peaks and troughs? Was your brand lucky enough to be searched by its name or are you still an unknown?
Scan the internet for any third party research and insights relevant to your industry, customer or category. See if you can quantify some of the issues or opportunities your customers’ face along their journey to finding you.
Last but not least, what’s the state of the ‘rona? Do you need to plan for contingencies or a diversification strategy to future proof your brand? Or conversely perhaps you need to temper the rose coloured glasses that it may have unexpectedly delivered…
Then, sit back with a cuppa (or champs) and try and make sense of it all. What are the headlines that could fuel or fault your grand plans? Overlay these with the draft objectives you got to in step one, and then determine the top two or three priorities for next year. Make sure you identify what success looks like, so that you’re able to measure whether you made it from position A to position B successfully.
Look for clues (not conclusions).
In today’s info-saturated, data debilitating world, there’s a lot you can learn on a paddle pop budget (in the absence of a decent attribution model or sophisticated brand tracking which we’ve assumed here). Our only *caution to the wind* is that you create hypotheses with the above data for further quantification. Data can be spun in many ways (and humans are an unpredictable bunch), so look for clues as opposed to conclusions. Then go out there and test, learn, optimise, and repeat. Remember though, when you’re considering your brand building activations, there’s rarely a quick fix or significant (attributable) short-term return. So chopping and changing because of a misconception that ‘it’s not working’ is the biggest mistake most marketers make. If you’ve done your due diligence in the planning process and added some creative magic, rest assured you will be heading in a better direction than if you did not.
Need a nudge?
If you’re struggling to set aside thinking time, are feeling overwhelmed by where to start, or lack the confidence to develop a brand strategy on your own, our next Brand Incubator is scheduled for 16 May. Designed to take you from bland to brand in FY23, you’ll not only learn how to develop a brand strategy from scratch, but will receive dedicated creative support to bring your brand strategy to life. It’s a one-of-a-kind format which is part DIY part done-for-you designed to boost your brand’s impact (and you’re own as a marketer) from the boardroom to the balance sheet.
If you’ve been sitting on the fence for a while and would like to try our Brand Incubator before you buy (no strings, credit card exchanges or automatic registrations), for a limited time we’re offering the first week of the program free. Even if you decide not to proceed, you’ll have everything you need to get your FY23 planning off to a great start.
If you’re keen to find out more, toddle on over here.