Marketers and the general public have one thing in common: we love a good comeback. And this time of year, we’re all trying to shake our bad habits, and magically reemerge as the very best version of ourselves in January.
While the shiny resolutions fill us with hope of a more productive and joyful year to come, we often dream too big, or set a goal that we don’t have a plan in place to help us accomplish.
In fact, 80 percent of us will abandon our resolutions by February, which can feel like a failure to meet your goal. And it also means we’re throwing away a whole month of hard work and progress.
That’s why this year, we’re avoiding all of that “New Year, New Me” noise, and thinking practically about how to become better marketers…for the whole year. The resolutions below are achievable, and guaranteed to take your marketing game to the next level. Cheers to sustainable growth in 2019, marketers!
Experiment With a New Content Type
In today’s digital environment, it’s no secret that quality content is the driver behind successful marketing programs. But it’s easy to fall into a rut: we find a content type that performs well and resonates with our audience, and we immediately try to replicate our win—over, and over, and over again.
But getting out of that rut could be as simple as rethinking a structure that has worked in the past. One of the easiest ways to accomplish that is by shaking up the types of content you use!
Do you create an annual report every year, or is there a hefty piece of anchor content on your list? If so, experiment with the format this year to promote your great user experience, like this parallax scrolling version of Vodafone’s annual report.
See the live example.
And even if a piece of anchor content isn’t in the plan for your team this year, you can still experiment with different types of content by repurposing what you already have. Can you rework a blog post into an infographic, or embed a short video with a member of your team introducing the topic?
Interactive content is also an easy way to make your existing content more engaging. That’s exactly what Plex did by taking a static PDF and reworking the format to be more valuable for them AND their prospects:
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Learn more about how to repurpose your existing content here.
Commit to Treating Your Prospects Like People
Today, it’s easy to get lost in MQLs, conversion rates, and engagement metrics, and forget that our job as marketers is to forge real connections with people by telling our stories and connecting to theirs.
And today, it’s more important than ever to prioritize this way of thinking about your marketing. When 91 percent of buyers prefer not to talk to sales until the middle or late stages of their buying journey, your content and early stage marketing has to work overtime to replace the human connection previously built by outreach from your sales team.
Many marketers are meeting this new need with expansive conversational marketing programs, but you don’t need to upend your entire strategy to start shifting your content to be more human. This year, one of the easiest ways to start treating your prospects like people is by turning the one-way flow of information in traditional content into a conversation. Adding simple interactivity to static content brings your buyers into the conversation—and the information they provide can then be used to inform further nurture strategies and follow up content. All of this creates a dynamic buyer journey that feels much more personalized.
Learn more about how you can open up a dialogue with your prospects here.
Plan for How You’ll Learn
Instead of resolving to be perfect this year, make your goal to keep learning. The best way to do that is by making a concrete plan to continually immerse yourself in new ideas and material. The best marketers are doing a little bit every day or every week to learn what is happening in their industry.
Plan for how you’ll keep your finger on the pulse by committing to listening to a marketing podcast every week, or setting up a Google Alert for an area you want to learn more about so you get notified when new content is published around the web.
Check out the top marketing podcasts you should be listening to here, and learn how to set up a Google Alert for things you’re interested in exploring here.
By using technology to ensure that innovative ideas are always coming your way, you’re halfway to meeting this goal. Make sure you actually read the information by attaching your learning to an established part of your routine. Maybe you’ll commit to listening to a marketing podcast over your morning coffee, or watching a recorded webinar during your standing lunch date with a coworker. However you decide to integrate your learning goals, make sure they stick.
Final Thoughts
Resolutions can be a great way to up your marketing game this year, as long as you set achievable goals. Whether you decide to experiment with new content types, develop conversational programs, or just focus on your own learning, you can get extra help keeping yourself on track with our Reason for the Season campaign planning guide.
