End 2022 Strong to Start 2023 Strong

We know. The end-of-the-year sales are already starting, store windows are displaying Christmas trees, and the Hallmark Channel is surely playing back-to-back holiday movies. The end of the year is full of chaos, and your business often finds itself on the back burner.

Here’s the thing: Ending the year in a marketing lull means starting the year in a marketing lull.

We don’t want this to happen to you, so here are ways you can amplify your marketing plan in Q4 to help you close the year out strong and to prepare you for a more profitable 2023.

1. Analyze your previous marketing tactics

Step one in creating a successful Q4 is to review the previous three quarters and look at the wins, challenges, and opportunities that presented themselves. What has worked in your marketing plan? What hasn’t? Ramp up on the verticals that are performing well or cut back on those that aren’t.

As you get into the nitty gritty of your marketing efforts, you might find that these investments haven’t been paying off. Not all strategies end up delivering value, so you might want to consider rethinking your marketing strategy for 2023.

2. Identify Your Marketing Goals

The next step in amplifying your Q4 marketing plan is to identify your marketing goals for the end of the quarter. Be specific. Every marketing department aims to “boost revenue” and “increase sales,” for example, and these goals don’t give you much direction. How will you boost revenue? What strategies, specifically, will you use to increase sales?

Here is a short list of possible goals to get you inspired:

• Increase organic website traffic by 15% with content marketing
• Improve social media Click-Throughs by 10% with a dedicated Instagram strategy
• Expand your email list by 10%

We suggest you start out with a list of 3-5 goals and create actionable steps to reach them. If you want a 10% increase in website traffic, you need to think about ways you’re going to get there. In Q4, you could increase your paid advertising budget, write additional blog content, post on social media, send out an email campaign, etc.

3. Choose Your Marketing Channels & Tactics

After goals, it’s time to put pen to paper and select the marketing channels and tactics you will use to accomplish your goals. At the moment, COHN clients from across our verticals are ramping up in a handful of key areas, such as:

Social media marketing
It’s important to have a strategy to back up why you’re posting what you’re posting. Not only that, but keeping up with trends and algorithms and updates can all play a role in whether your social media efforts are successful in Q4.

Email marketing
Email is still the number one marketing tactic out there. It has the opportunity to deliver the highest possible ROI for clients. Sequences, newsletters, and opt-ins can all make an impact on your Q4 and beyond goals.

Paid (digital) media
If it’s in the budget, paid media remains one of the most powerful (and quickest) ways to raise awareness and reach your audience quickly. Paid media works even better when you combine it with earned and owned.

4. Develop Your Marketing Budget for the New Year

A cohesive marketing budget plan is a must when it comes to accomplishing your marketing goals for the new year. With all the information you planned, how does it fit into your Q4 budget and what budget are you going to present for 2023.

Developing a marketing budget plan will also help you:

• Allocate funds for projects months in advance
• Prove the value of your marketing projects to company executives
• Justify why specific projects are worth investing in
• Invest in the right projects

Pro tip: If you have a budget left over for Q4 and you don’t know how to spend it, you might consider using it to get started at an agency, and we’ll use it towards your Q1 budget.

5. Invest in An Agency Now, For the Future

At the end of the day, COHN believes that business success begins at brand strategy. If your brand is lacking and unclear, it makes the other pieces of your marketing strategy harder to come together. If you’re not seeing your marketing goals come together then consider what a rebrand might do for you.

As we move through Q4 and look ahead to 2023, what are your goals and accomplishments telling you? Your business doesn’t have to go into the rest of the year feeling lackluster. Incorporate an agency into your marketing budget and start getting the results you want.

At COHN, we can take your end-of-the-year overwhelm and turn it into a well-orchestrated plan of attack that brings in new clients and keeps your loyal clients coming back for more. Every strategy we execute is backed by data, built by our team of experts, and carefully implemented through some pretty amazing branding, design, and content.

Contact our team today to kick-start your Q4 marketing efforts to begin 2023 on the right note.