A Year-End Review marketing assessment goes beyond just checking Google Analytics for year-over-year (YoY) website traffic or reporting on the success or failure of your company’s objectives and KPIs. The team’s efforts and your marketing initiatives throughout the year come to a head with this.
An annual marketing review should include a synopsis of the plan’s triumphs and tribulations. Furthermore, it is critical to emphasize the practical knowledge or lessons gained. Once you have this data, you may use it to make plans for the next year. The secret to a well-prepared year-end assessment is preparation.
What You Need to Know to Get Ready for Your Annual Marketing Review
Before you begin to compile your marketing report for the year, there are three basic questions you must address.
In what ways does marketing contribute?
The review should include what?
Who, ideally, will view it and read it?
You can target a certain demographic with your review after you complete these questions.
The function of marketing may be defined as the promotion of a brand through various marketing channels in order to gain new clients and hold on to current ones.
What makes up a good Year-End Review?
1. Create a picture of where we’re going
Make data more easily understood by presenting it visually; this will cut down on requests for further explanation.
2. Rich information resource
Find multiple sources for your data and information, and then utilize them to back up your findings.
3. Let marketing shine
Without sugarcoating it, highlight the marketing team’s performance and importance.
What exactly should a Year-End Review contain?
When you perform a year-end review, there is specific information that you must include regardless of the format or location of the review. Here are a few recommendations for possible inclusions:
1. Profitability
The goal of looking at the numbers is to see how much of an impact the marketing had on the company’s bottom line. There’s a big difference between the embedded value of returning customers and the above-the-line contributions linked with acquiring new ones (lead generation). It is also critical to track how much money current customers spend.
2. Lead Generation
Getting new customers is probably the most expensive part of any business. Consequently, you must demonstrate how your current clients are paying for their purchase with the revenue they generate.
3. Return on Investment
If you want to know how much money you made back from your marketing spend, you need to look at the bottom-line contribution.
In addition, you can expect to find performance benchmarks and scores as well as a list of practical insights in a high-quality evaluation. Gathering the answers and facts that will produce a thorough, engaging, and honest review is, thus, part of preparation. In addition, it should serve as a springboard for brainstorming sessions for the next fiscal period’s brand and product promotion.
Final Product
It is important to incorporate performance data from all promotional platforms. Included in this category might be the amount of complimentary exposure received from television, print media, the internet, and social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Compare these outcomes to those from the prior review period and evaluate them in relation to predetermined goals and standards.
Important KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) like client loyalty and expenditure can help businesses make better decisions, unlike other vanity measures. In sales and marketing, key performance indicators and metrics should take center stage. Spending on advertising solely to bring in new consumers is a common practice for some businesses. For instance, they have specials and deals specifically for newcomers.
Measuring the spending of existing customers is crucial since it reveals how satisfied and valued, they are by a firm. The customers’ actions speak louder than words.
Keeping Updated with Market Trends
Market share and customer share are two aspects of competitive analysis. It is essential to benchmark market share while evaluating performance. Knowing how much money a client spends with both your firm and the competition is equally crucial.
Analyzing the branding, products/services, and systems of competitors is another crucial part of any competitive study. You need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your company’s competitors at all times. The sales team will have an advantage when approaching the company because of this.
The R&D team will have something to work on if they are aware of the strengths of their competition. One way to concisely inform our own strategy is to understand our competitors and assess their market share and consumer share.
Moving Forward
There is more to a marketing review at the end of the year than merely looking back at the results. This is a chance to lay the groundwork for what’s to come and to ask the correct questions. Doing so will allow us to investigate the answers. Marketing reviews at the end of the year allow businesses to zero in on short-, medium-, and long-term objectives.
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