Before you can even think about 2020’s marketing campaigns, it’s best to put your thinking cap on for the all-important end of year reports.
No business can plan for next year until they review and understand their past marketing performance. By taking a look at what went well and what didn’t go as well, you can adapt your strategy for the new year, focusing on the marketing channels that will help to grow your business.
Analyse KPIs and SMART Goals
Ideally, your business should already have clear KPIs and SMART goals which will allow you to analyse your marketing efforts - did you achieve what you set out to do or not?
Some questions you should think about answering in your report are:
- Were your campaigns successful? If not, why?
- Did your audience react better to a certain type of content?
- Did sales or leads increase on the back of a particular campaign?
- What actions did users take on your website before becoming a customer/lead?
- Which marketing channels are the most beneficial for your business?
- How much revenue did the company generate over the year?
- Is there a certain time of year with a peak in sales/leads?
Streamline Your Metrics
As you’ll have a lot of information to compile into one annual report, try to keep it visual using charts and tables wherever possible and offer valuable insights alongside the presented data.
Is the report used internally within your department or will directors/stakeholders be reading it? Only include the metrics that will help to direct your business’ strategy. Follower growth may look fancy but if it has no direct impact on your SMART goals, it’s just unnecessary information. Keep the report clear and concise, for the reader’s expense and to save you time when writing it.
Consider Marketing Trends
In this day and age, marketing trends are ever-trending and a method that worked last year may not necessarily work next year. This is why it is absolutely vital to dive into your analytics to see the bigger picture as to how your marketing has impacted the goals that matter to you.
For example, you may look back at 2019 and discover that your organic social hasn’t performed as well as in previous years, an issue a lot of businesses are currently struggling with due to social algorithms. This may suggest that you need to take a look into paid social advertising throughout 2020 to increase the reach of your posts, drive traffic to your website and increase sales/leads.
Complete Competitor Research
As well as analysing your own performance, you may want to include competitor research in your marketing report. Take a look at competitors’ websites and their social channels - what are they doing well? Some of your best ideas can come from using other business’ content as a starting point and innovating it to make it your own. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to marketing.
Once you’ve compiled your report and taken into account key metrics, the next step is to think about next year’s marketing strategy. Use previous data as benchmarks to develop SMART goals and KPIs for 2020. Ultimately, your end of year report should direct your business’ strategy going forward to do more of what went well while avoiding making the same mistakes.
