Learn from our Marketing Mistakes

A brand-new year is like a blank slate, offering us the chance to shake things up and find better ways to get things done. If you’re like us, we continue to have ambition to reach new marketing heights, but sometimes the everyday tasks keep us from making the changes needed to grow. This was true for us this past year when we continued to have high expectations of ourselves on the marketing team, but realized our content creation process wasn’t as refined as it should be, especially given the ambitious growth plans we had in mind. We found ourselves making last-minute decisions and falling short on creating the content we wanted. This changed in 2023 when we decided it was time to revamp our approach with a new process for strategic marketing planning. So, in this article, we’re excited to share our thoughts on the importance of taking the time to build out a marketing plan, leverage content calendars, and draw insights from experts.

1. A Well-Crafted Marketing Plan

A marketing plan serves as the blueprint for your promotions, events, content, and communications. It provides a roadmap so you’re better prepared. If you’re like us, you have ideas for growth and aspire for taking part in new trends, but many times other projects would take precedence. Days turn to weeks, weeks to months, and before you know it, you’re in the holiday season without being able to fulfill anything new like you had hoped. Creating a plan allows you to think ahead, incorporate new ideas, and figure out the details to implement them.

For us, we realized the importance of breaking down the silos and keeping an open line of communication with all departments. We made sure our plan included ideas that aligned with our company’s strategic goals which includes both external and internal plans. Once you determine what a successful year could look like for other departments and the executive team, you can easily begin to align your marketing activities to support them. No matter the size of your team or company, planning your marketing initiatives for the upcoming year is crucial for sustained growth and success.

2. Create Efficiency with Content Calendars

Julia DiPaola, Marketing Specialist at Palmer-Donavin, shared with us the pivotal role content calendars have in executing a successful marketing plan. “We opted for a content calendar equipped with color-coding features to distinguish our various marketing endeavors. This functionality allows us to easily sort by categories like email or social posts, aiding in planning and organization,” explained Julia.

Since integrating a content calendar, we have seen improvement in the success of our email campaigns. Julia shared, “Our email campaigns have seen greater success as we can now target specific groups more effectively. Additionally, it’s simpler to assess if our target audiences might receive an excessive number of emails within a given timeframe,” she added.

We also want to add that the visual representation of a content calendar offers a holistic view for the entire team, ensuring that no crucial aspect is overlooked. For example, we may be able to add in new insights to social or share more information in emails if we are aware of events that are taking place. This could be when new promotions are running or when events are happening. We were thrilled with being able to see and think more into the future by seeing the activities for each day. It gave us the opportunity to work closer as a team and try new marketing tactics.

If improving your planning skills is on your agenda for the new year, we suggest giving TeamUp.com a look. It’s an excellent tool to kickstart your efforts.

3. Draw Insights from Industry Experts and Your Team

Drawing insights from industry experts is a valuable part of an effective marketing plan. Stephanie Kuntz, Director of Marketing at Palmer-Donavin, emphasizes the importance of leveraging available resources and industry partnerships. “At Palmer-Donavin, we try to plan three to six months out in order to take advantage of the resources we have available to us (our manufacturer partners) and to build the content that our customers want,” shared Stephanie.

There’s a wealth of knowledge in our industry and we hope you learn from us and reach out for support more often. This past year, we have become better at collaborating with experts in other departments and connecting with our manufacturer partners to collaborate on projects. You will find it is rewarding to create the opportunity to work together in more ways, gain so much more knowledge from the experts, and appreciate that the work is benefitting everyone. By tapping into the expertise of these partners, you will make your relationships stronger and successively gain a competitive edge.

The Power of Planning

In the world of marketing, the saying “fail to plan, plan to fail” holds true. Forward planning not only enables you to stay ahead of the curve but also empowers you to capitalize on new opportunities. By incorporating the insights from our team, we hope you learn from our mistakes and get a head start this year in creating a strategic and successful marketing approach. A well-crafted marketing plan, supported by the efficiency of content calendars and industry expertise, will help your sustained growth. If you have any questions along the way, please contact us at 1907@palmerdonavin.com. We would love to hear about the projects you’re working on and support you in any way we can.