Get Ready for the New Year: How To Put Together a Successful Marketing Plan For 2022

Is it just me, or did 2021 fly by? Whether your team met its annual goals or came up short, it’s time to look ahead to the new year. You might have other things on your mind besides marketing, but it’s crucial to the success of every business. We have good news: you can put together a successful marketing plan for 2022 in just five steps. First, let’s discuss why it’s worth your while to create a marketing plan.

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Why Spend Time on a Marketing Plan?

Time is money, and so is marketing. A marketing plan enables you to allocate and spend your resources wisely; resources include money and the time of your employees. Marketing plans give you a focused roadmap to check back against regularly, whether that’s quarterly or annually. This, in turn, provides clarity for your team and helps align your goals with your actions. Another reason to spend time on a marketing plan is to plan out your year. Being proactive is one of the greatest ways to ensure business success. Lastly, a marketing plan helps you set and achieve measurable goals, including financial goals.

Entering the new year without a marketing plan will leave you chasing your tail, with no clue where you’re going or why.

Items to Include in Your 2022 Marketing Plan

When designing your marketing plan, keep it simple. Be sure to include goals, which will guide the rest of your plan. One of the best formats to follow when creating goals is the acronym SMART, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific. An example of an effective SMART marketing goal for 2022 could be to “Increase website downloads by 10 percent by the end of Q2 by communicating with prospects via targeted emails.” The next key component of a marketing plan is a sales forecast. You can create a sales forecast using a template in Excel or using specific software, if you have the available funds. You should also include one to two sentences about your marketing strategy. Clearly define your target market and consider creating personas of an ideal customer. Lay out your budget and create a calendar and controls to implement things in your plan. Lastly, be sure to identify the marketing tactics you will utilize, as well as how you will measure your success.

2022 Marketing Trends

Have I mentioned that our agency loves HubSpot? Every year, HubSpot releases a report of marketing trends. I hand-picked the ones that I believe will make the most difference for businesses in 2022:

1. Video marketing is more important than ever. Be sure to keep it short: We’ve seen the exponential growth of 15- to 60-second videos on TikTok, as well as the growing trend towards YouTube Shorts.
2. Prioritize social responsibility. Consider supporting a nonprofit or taking an afternoon to volunteer as a team. 
3. Expect the comeback of experiential marketing. With COVID guidelines lessening, more chamber, association and other industry-specific meetings will take place. These are great opportunities to demonstrate thought leadership.
4. More businesses will use SEO. If you haven’t implemented a search optimization strategy, your website might not even make it on the first page of Google search results.
5. Brands will invest less in virtual events. In-person events are expected to return in 2022, but hybrid events are here to stay.
6. Inbound marketing will be a best practice for growing brands. Inbound marketing is the practice of engaging with your customers by creating meaningful content and building relationships.
7. ABM will align more sales and marketing teams. Account-based marketing is a technique where marketing and sales teams work together to better cater campaigns toward accounts.

5 Steps to Create a Successful Marketing Plan

Step 1: Define your 2022 business goals based on your 2021 results. This includes both financial and sales forecasting.

Step 2: Understand your target market and ideal customers. Review your best customers, and pay particular attention to their industry. Consider creating specific website pages or campaigns for those industries. Using EOS guidelines and language, build your list.

Step 3: Meet as a sales and marketing team to assess what worked in the past and align on goals and budget. Analyze the ROI of your 2021 marketing tactics; pick several that worked best together to go after in 2022. The cross-functional team should determine if the goals align with the allocated budget.

Step 4: Identify the most effective marketing tactics that will help you get found and convert website visitors to leads. Answer a few key questions: Are you being found for the right search terms? Is your website built to convert? Are you active in the right places for your target market?

Step 5: The last step to creating a successful 2022 marketing plan is to commit. Describe your overall strategy in one to two sentences to keep things simple. Set up a calendar style project plan to corral your ideas into a cadence. This will ensure your content, social media and videos are consistently shared with prospects.

Marketing Tactics

There are many marketing tactics to choose from when it comes to promoting your business. I will highlight the top four marketing tactics of 2022 in order of importance.

Website

Perhaps the most important marketing tactic is a website that converts visitors into leads. Your website should be carefully designed to serve as a hub for your business. We recommend following the StoryBrand methodology to clearly demonstrate to your customers how you will solve their problems.

SEO/Content

Create content to build on the key search terms of your website with supplemental content. Your sales team will also need content to nurture prospective customers. I recommend a cadence of one blog post per week, twice per week if possible. Examples of content to share include thought leader insights, industry news and company case study success stories.

Email

Email, which includes both newsletters and prospect nurturing campaigns, serve to inform and engage. An email newsletter is an easy way to share content that may not be found on your website. Email nurture campaigns are essential to manage leads efficiently.

Social Media

To build credibility, modern businesses must establish a social media presence. Google ranking is based on more than website content; relevant social media posts are one way to boost search results. It’s reported that as many as 75 percent of B2B buyers use social media when making a purchase.

Time to Get Started

Are you ready to take the next step toward creating your marketing plan for 2022? BigOrange Marketing can help with a marketing planning strategy session to help you move forward most efficiently. My team also offers free website assessments and consultations. If we can be of service to you, please do not hesitate to reach out. We want American businesses to succeed in the new year!