With 2011 just around the corner, now may be the perfect time to consider your marketing plans for the next year if you haven’t already started. Thanksgiving has just ended and, while there’s shopping to do and parties to attend; Christmas isn’t here yet, so you have a few weeks to really process what changes you’ll make or strategies you’ll keep for ’11.
Now is also a great time to establish your marketing plans as we all know the holidays tend to slow down business. Think of this as a two week break to reflect over the past year and consider the future of your success. Whether it’s a focused two hour time slot each morning or three full days, commit this much needed time to regroup and gear up... you’ll hit the ground in 2011 running!
Start the process with reflection. The best way to move forward is to evaluate the past.
What worked for you over the past year? Whether it was a great drip email campaign, your new blog, or commitment to social media - keep it up! If it was beneficial to your business be sure to continue putting the same time and energy into those things, and don’t be afraid to bump it up a notch!
What didn’t work for you? Did all those postcards you sent out yield any type of return or are there any websites or services you’re paying for that don’t seem to be doing anything for you? If something is not working for you; don’t be afraid to drop it. Don’t spend the time, energy or money when you could be investing more in the things that do work.
Next, consider new things! Growing in your business will often entail trying new ways of marketing or a different approach entirely!
Below are a few of the Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2011 as pointed out by HorizonWatching that will help point you in the right direction if you’re not already there! And, while this site is geared more towards marketing teams; you’ll be able to take the key elements that you can use for your strategies.
Marketing Budgets Will Continue to Shift Towards Online: Customers and prospects are increasingly going online early in the buying cycle to gather information, form relationships, and make decisions about how they will buy. As a result, marketing leaders must move marketing mix budgets to mirror where the customers and prospects are - online.
Social Media Marketing Is Maturing: Those in the marketing profession can sense that we are in the middle of an important transition to the use of social media for marketing purposes. While the past few years many marketers have been experimenting with social media tactics, in 2011, leading marketing teams will be executing social tactics that are fully integrated into the overall marketing strategy. An overall social media marketing process will emerge that has firms following a never ending cycle of 1) Research, 2) Plan, 3) Engage and 4) Measure.
Social Video As A Marketing Tool Gains Momentum: Video is an incredible way to connect with people online. Until the Internet, the only way to get your video message to a mass audience was to pay for a TV commercial. Today, social media sites and video go hand in hand. Distributing video via your social networks is a powerful way to imprint your images into the memory of your customers and prospects. Video strengthens the relationships you have with existing customers and it helps prospects get to know you better.
Search Engine Optimization Gets More Complex: Customers naturally use search engines as their primary vehicle to find information on products and services. But its not a one search engine game anymore as Google’s been joined by Bing in the US market and there are important local players like China’s Baidu and Russia’s Yandex. On top of that, social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are increasingly becoming an important source for searching.
The final step is to put your plan into action! While there can be different phases to your marketing plan as you budget for 2011, the goal is to get the ball rolling. If you begin now, you won’t be scrambling after the excitement of the holidays wears off; you’ll be ready to go!
If you still aren’t quite sure where to start, we’d love to help! As a team of real estate virtual assistants, our goal is to make your lives easier by providing innovative new ideas and efficient implementation as well as those classic marketing strategies that continue to bring results year after year. We can customize an entire marketing plan to fit your needs and budget as well as carry out the plan for you, so that your hands are completely free to do the job that you need to do! From a website analysis to enhance your online presence, to real estate blogging, drip email campaigns, social networking, listing marketing, branding, and everything in between; we can help to make 2011 your most successful year yet!
Are you prepared for next year?
Allie Coyle
Marketing & Copywriting Coordinator
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