Start your marketing and communications plan for the year with goals designed for results.
It's that wonderful time of year when, regardless of when your fiscal year ends, we (you, us,your boss/board/spouse/mother-in-law, etc) take stock of what we've achieved and what we hope to achieve in the next year. It's a time to take stock of your company successes and failures. There are several different ways to measure this, but the most important thing is to accurately and honestly asses whether you met the goals you set for marketing last year, and focus on the upcoming year.
As you look at the upcoming year, dust off that marketing and communications plan and ask yourself—did you achieve the goals you set out for yourself? Do they meet the overall strategic goals of the organization?
(Sidebar: didn't set goals or a marketing strategy? Now's a good time to do it.)
The most important thing you can do for your company's success is to establish where you are trying to get to, apply a time limitation, specific achievements and make sure it's achievable, yet enough of a stretch that it will make a big difference to your trajectory. (SMART)
Most companies set revenue-based goals, but it's really dependent on where you are trying to get. More and more companies tie employee recruitment and retention into their marketing and communications goals, as well as the support of increased revenue. Other organizations (especially mission-based nonprofits) are focused on membership, patronage or awareness.
Whatever your goals are—and at de Novo, we believe that marketing and communications plays a role in almost every aspect of a business' success—work to align your marketing plan with your overall organizational goals, put the elements in place to achieve them, and then work to deliver on everything you determine will help you achieve these goals.
Once you've established your goals, build the supports to achieve them. Be sure to align your available resources, but be aggressive. Then work like hell to deliver the plan. As you go, consistantly measure your efforts to make sure they are delivering results, and be prepared to pivot or adjust tactics to get better results.
Working with de Novo helps you not only start with strategy, but gives you the tools and help you need to reach your goals. Why? Because we adopt your goals as our goals, and we partner with you to achieve them.