Q4 is arguably the busiest time of the year – particularly in the world of marketing!
With key dates such as Black Friday and Christmas, consumers are actively seeking deals and buying gifts…you would be silly not to take advantage of these key moments in the calendar.
It’s a prime opportunity to drive sales with a killer marketing plan, so here are Lucky Seven’s hot tips for planning a successful Q4!
Hot Tips for Planning a Successful Q4
Q4 SUCCCESS: KNOW YOUR KEY DATES:
Halloween (October 31)
Black Friday (November 24)
Cyber Monday (November 27)
Small Business Saturday (November 30)
Christmas (December 25th)
Tapping into these dates will be foundational for your planning and strategy. They will drive your brainstorming and timelines as well as form the basis of your key activations and offers.
Q4 SUCCCESS: FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL:
Kicking off Q4 planning should - at a minimum - occur in early Q3, or even Q2, allowing you plenty of time to refine your marketing plan throughout the year.
Here are some guidelines to assist your planning…
Review progress and last year’s performance to identify trends – what worked, what didn’t work and why? Use these insights to avoid making the same mistakes & fine tune your strategy for this year.
Create a calendar with key dates and key themes – as mentioned in tip #1, use your key dates to structure your marketing plan effectively.
Break it down by Marketing Channel – once you’ve established your themes and focuses, think about which channels will work best and how? There is no blanket approach for any business.
Action Points & Activations – Draw on your experience, brainstorm ideas and leverage market research to come up with objectives, activations and subsequent action points to finalise your comprehensive marketing plan.
Q4 SUCCCESS: OBJECTIVES:
Think about what you want to achieve from your marketing plan? What milestone do you want to hit? What goals do you want to accomplish?
Think about the most important metrics for your plan, is it simply revenue? Web Traffic? Social Engagement? Like? Reach? And so on.
Ensure you outline some clear objectives for your Q4 so can you effectively measure the success of your campaigns. A great strategy for setting goals and objectives is the SMART framework which you can learn all about here.
To yield accurate results, make sure you utilise previous Q4 data and measure your insights against them.
Q4 SUCCESS: CHECKPOINTS
It’s not a matter of activating everything and having a ‘see how you go’ approach. Mark checkpoints in your diary to review and assess your project so you can make necessary adjustments to your strategy along the way.
If something is clearly not working, adapt and change it for optimal results.
Q4 SUCCCESS: OPTIMISE YOUR WEBSITE
In peak sale periods, it’s key to ensure your customer journey is straightforward, intuitive and in particular, mobile friendly. A seamless buying experience should be a core priority if you are selling online – particularly during key periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There is no point activating all other channels if you’re leading your consumer to a confusing landing page.
Other points to consider include:
Loading times
Product Page design
Clear Call-To-Action
Prominent Banners & Design
Secure & Easy Checkout
BONUS TIP: WE LOVE A TEASER
If you’re looking to build hype around your campaigns, don’t just wait until they go live! Instead, warm up your audience with teasers to build anticipation and excitement, helping you cut through the noise and capture maximum attention.
Q4 is a crazy time of the year, particularly for marketeers. From planning your calendar around key dates, to optimising your website for sale periods – the core takeaway is to be organised, know your audience and plan ahead.
We hope we’ve given you the foundations of planning a successful Q4! If the process still feels intimidating, slide into our DMs here to have a chat about how we can help you smash your Q4 goals.
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