Marketing Strategies: Preparing for 2021

2020 is a year unlike any other. Like many marketing leaders, I came into 2020 with a comprehensive plan and was ready to execute. 

Then the pandemic hit, and plans were thrown out the window. We went from office dynamics to working 100% from home. We went from in-person events to virtual ones. We were asked to cut the budget but not goals or expectations. 

I feel fortunate, from a marketing perspective, that the year has been a good one...all things considered. With that said, I have certainly learned a lot this year about myself as a marketing leader that I will carry forward.

As we prepare for 2021 and think through budget, headcount, and strategy, here are some of the areas that are top of mind for me.

Remain agile

This year reminded me of the importance of preparing for the unexpected and being ready to pivot as needed. The fact of the matter is: we are living and working under a new normal and still discovering the scale of change. A great example was our 2020 hosted events plan. We use these events to network with customers and prospects and to showcase new product releases. Clearly, the pandemic impacted our ability to host these events in person. Instead of turning away from events, back in April we launched a bi-weekly webinar series we call “Real Time Banter.” We invite our listeners to join in our conversations with thought leaders from the world of publishing and marketing and share what's top of mind for them in the ever-changing digital landscape. As I work with our team to plan 2021, we will leave room each quarter for the unexpected.

Events

Speaking of events, I firmly believe that all of 2021 will be virtual. We will not be committing any budget to events that are planned to be 100% in person. With that said, we certainly don’t see the same ROI from virtual events. In our brainstorming and planning sessions, we are actively thinking through how we make up that gap while we continue to support the trade publications who put on these events and are a vital part of our industry. We will be looking at this as an opportunity to diversify our media spend by looking for platforms that provide us with the opportunity to create awareness and a high level of inbounds.

Listening to customers 

It’s important to remember that, as a B2B marketer, our customers have also had an unsettling year. As our customers plan for 2021, there is a lot of uncertainty on their end. It’s always crucial to listen to your customers, but this should be magnified by 10x during an uncertain era. It's the only way to stay in lock-step with customers to make sure we continue to build the products and provide the solutions/services they require. Customers must know that we are here for them and support their goals. Think tank sessions, customer surveys, and virtual discussions are a few effective ways to accomplish this.

Content Marketing 

As we think about 2021 going majority virtual, getting the right content into the hands of your customers and prospects at different stages of the marketing funnel becomes even more critical. Our plan is to double down on content marketing, leveraging it to grow product adoption, generate leads, enhance SEO, build thought leadership, better social media, and more. Along these lines, it's important to consider the format in which the content gets delivered. I’m excited to potentially test out some emerging formats like interactive research reports and animated explainers, as well as A/B testing the platforms that we use to distribute the content. Our top performer has traditionally been email, but we always experiment with other media, including the walled gardens, as well.

Proving value 

If you’re not following Mayur Gupta, you should. Mayur is one of the best thought-provoking marketers in our industry. He regularly engages the marketing community in conversations about the future of marketing and its impact on business. One of my favorite quotes he made in a post about celebrating the impact of marketing, “..if the "Growth - Business - Measurable Impact - Insights - Analytics" side of Marketing is what needs more VISIBILITY & AWARENESS, we need to tell those stories AS MUCH OR MORE”. 

There is certainly a lesson I take from this. If the company is expected to grow year over year, then there needs to be infrastructural support for the marketing team in which the team can build a strategy, execute tactics that contribute to the company goals and report back to the company.

Alignment within our marketing team

Last but certainly not least, is making sure that every team member within our marketing org (product marketing, demand generation, sales enablement, content marketing, public relations, creative and branding) are on the same page vis a vis our goals. Also, how the work they do contributes to every stage of the marketing funnel in order to help our internal and external customers accomplish their business goals.

I’m curious to hear from others. As you plan for 2021, what’s top of mind for you?