3 tips to simplify your 2020 marketing planning

Planning season is in full swing. In conference rooms from Seattle to Philadelphia, marketing teams are huddling to build out their plans for enhancing brand reputation, increasing revenue growth, and bringing new products and services to market. From our vantage point working with marketing leaders across highly regulated, complex industries, we’ve identified a few ways to bring clarity and simplicity to the annual planning challenge.

1. Be the change agent you were born to be
Every industry and organization is undergoing seismic change. Enter into planning for the coming year with the right mindset: that of a transformational leader.

Marketing leaders are in a unique position as the in-house customer expert to identify the change initiatives required for their company to attract new customers, grow customer loyalty and accelerate growth. Now is your moment to break down silos, ask questions about customer behavior or broader marketplace change and create cross-functional action to help your company stand apart from the competition and better serve its customers.

2. Stay focused and do your homework
First, identify your top two or three audiences – don’t try to market to all. Then, have conversations with leaders and customer-facing employees inside your organization to gain diverse perspectives. But don’t stop there. Also include outside perspectives from market research and discussions with industry influencers and partners.

Once you’ve done all that, zero in on the most pressing gaps and opportunities to give your work focus. Concentrate on the top two or three transformational plays which: 1) can have the most impact on your business and 2) are “stretch goals,” yet achievable. Identify your most critical four to six campaigns. Then, funnel your time, effort, intellect and creativity into these select initiatives.

3. Inject humanity into your marketing efforts
Marketing automation and chat bots may have brought efficiency and scale to marketing efforts but, for some companies, they’ve also stripped out the human touch. Make sure you’re thinking of ways to have your employees be front and center in your marketing (and recruitment) efforts. And look for influencers outside the company’s walls to be storytellers for your brand. See more tips on influencer marketing in our recent digital conference recap.

So, take a deep breath, think of ways to bring about change, stay focused on a few “big bets” rather than a laundry list of to-do’s, and add the human touch to your marketing. You’ll find that your 2020 plan will (almost) write itself.