Setting yourself up for marketing/communications success in 2021 and beyond
2020 is a year that we won’t soon forget. It’s a year that taught us all how essential toilet paper is to the fabric of society; a year that forced us to slow down and reevaluate our priorities; and a year that required everyone to become more comfortable with uncertainty and change.
The latter point was especially the case for businesses across various sectors who had to adopt new approaches to PR/marketing in light of a hectic and ever-changing news landscape. Despite all these changes, we saw several brands that were able to quickly adapt their strategies when it comes to communicating their announcements including PlayStation, with its London tube station takeover ahead of its UK PS5 launch, and Apple taking its highly anticipated product launch events and making them virtual.
With the end of 2020 in sight, this is the perfect time to get your company 2021 planning figured out so that you can get off on the right foot in the new year including….
Make PR and marketing central to your strategy/planning efforts
- A solid marketing and communications plan is crucial to getting the most out of your company announcements and/or product launch. Whether it’s taking steps to ensure your website is the best UX experience possible for your customers or doing an audit of your social media channels, these exercises are important for establishing a brand identity that new and old users alike will recognize. While this is something that can be done in-house, bringing in a creative agency is a great way of developing fresh and outside-the-box ideas that can take your company to the next level.
PR, SEO and marketing are not islands. It’s time to bring these parties together
- We often find that companies have disparate teams working on PR, SEO and marketing, which makes it difficult to establish a unified brand voice. To establish a truly effective marketing and communication strategy, it is important to sync these activities together so that your digital marketing efforts can pick up where your PR and SEO efforts end.
Establish a flexible timeline for upcoming product launches
- We’ve noticed a number of businesses (including our clients) having to push their launches into this Autumn/Winter or even waiting to launch next year. That being said, it’s important to establish a flexible product launch timeline for 2021 that will take into account the backlog of launch announcements that will be happening in the new year as well as news moments that will dominate the media landscape and leave little room for anything else. This will ensure that you can have the most successful launch that reaches your target audience.
With the new year fast approaching, this is the perfect time to assess your business and make sure you have all your internal planning affairs in order, especially when it comes to your marketing and communications strategy. 2020 provided a unique opportunity for brands to rethink the way they engage with their customers, making it easier than ever to feel truly connected. In 2021, this is something that companies should continue to lean into, using personable and authentic marketing and communications as a tool to do so.
This guest blog post was provided by Heather Delaney of Gallium Ventures, a London-based marketing consultant in the consumer tech space. If you’re looking for a strategic consultancy to help you with your 2021 planning, visit Heather at https://galliumventures.com/ or contact her via email at [email protected].
