The festive season is here, time to wind down from work and take a break after a very unusual and trying year. Roll on 2022

Plan Ahead For A Different Year

So much has changed this year it has most businesses spinning. Most are looking back at 2021 wondering what they really need to do in order to thrive in the twelve months ahead. December is a great time for starting a plan for the new year ahead.

2022 is likely to be another “different” type of year. We can expect changing attitudes from customers as they throw off the habits of the last two years but the need to constantly innovate new ways of interacting with them will remain. It is clear from the last 12 months that having a robust online presence will help any sized business to communicate readily with current and potential customers.

Keeping your online presence up to date is vital and helps you leverage social media channels to good effect. Most businesses during the pandemic have had to change their operating methods regularly (often a short notice). Being able to alert customers to the latest iteration of opening times or safer ways of navigating shops and offices is a valuable resource. Similarly being able to offer customers ways of ordering or purchasing online has been vital to keeping trading going.

Any company that already had a good social media following, email list and regular website traffic to high ranking optimised pages has enjoyed a significant advantage in 2021. If you are not in this group or want or do better then. This is a good place to start your 2022 plan.

Great Content Gets Results

Having interesting or useful content is attractive. Posting regular relevant content on your site will attract potential customers or keep existing ones engaged. It will encourage people to follow you on social channels and join your email list. With bigger marketing reach you can quickly communicate tactical adaptations to whatever the market throws at you; not to mention a bigger voice for your regular marketing messages.

Relevant Compelling Content

One of the best starting points for generating inbound traffic to your site is to create high quality, relevant content. Where to start when faced with a blank page or screen however can be a daunting task. You need to create fresh regular posts that will engage with your target audience. Having a content calendar can help you sort out what’s needed in advance (NB text, images and social posts are all content) .

First decide what your objectives or goals are: A direct request for your product or service, registration to an email list, directing footfall to your premises. They will be many different goals that are right for your business. Now consider how to incorporate them in your plan. Think about who you are speaking to, there might be different approaches to different product or service users or maybe different age groups?

Next consider what content you can produce. Write content that corresponds with how your customers might approach the topics around your business products or services. Answer the questions you are most often asked, resolve the objections that most often occur. Plan what text and images you might need. What do you have in house or what might need to be sourced elsewhere?

Next take you content ideas and build a spread sheet or table to organise what will be needed each month. List what you might post on you site and which social media channels you can use to reach a wider audience. Look at the seasons, holiday periods and an industry highlights that you can incorporate to keep things topical.

With the problem broken down into manageable chunks ahead of time it is much easier to get prepared. Stick to the plan, and eliminate the stressful last minute bottlenecks by preparing content well in advance.

Getting Extra Resource

As ever, if you would like some extra resource in creating a plan or producing the content please get in touch

We wish you a Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2022