Need to create a marketing mix that is effective in 2021 – it is not going to be easy!

While selecting the best possible marketing plan for a brand; the most important aspect is to understand the position of the brand in its marketing journey and then accordingly figure out the action items that will enhance that position.

This has been true until last year; but like I said – creating a marketing plan (with the right marketing mix!) might not be so straight-forward in 2021.

2021 brings to us a post-Covid-19 world with most of the business sectors badly affected. Businesses across the world have been forced to rethink the way they function and even their products and services. This also means a major rejig of the marketing plans!

Here is:

How you can create an effective marketing mix in 2021

That can help you or your brand stay relevant as a preferred choice for your customers

Fix Your Business Goals for 2021
Stay Customer-Focused
Create The Marketing Plan – Getting the Marketing Mix Right!
Do Quarterly Evaluation of Your Marketing Strategy
Tweak to Scale-Up or Reboot!

Let’s dig in!

Fix Your Business Goals for 2021

Businesses are trying to recalibrate themselves according to the new world reality but it will be some time before they can set in completely with the new normal. The earlier you visit your business goals and fix them; the better you will be prepared for a profitable 2021.

Review the past year performance – the business changes you have made or were forced to make
Factor in the Covid pandemic impact on your sector
What are you looking to achieve in 2021?

Stay Customer Focused – More than Ever Before

While this year will require you to relook at all aspects of your business (the 4Ps) but staying customer-focused is more important than ever.

You would certainly not want to be wasting time, effort, and money on activities that do not directly benefit your customers and subsequently your business.

Tips:

Revisit your customer personas and customer journey maps.

While analyzing your performance in 2020, figure out the changes that might have happened in the user behavior of your customers.

Are they buying more or buying less?
Are there any new entrants in the market, thereby increasing choices for your customer?
Covid-infested 2020 has certainly led to the rise of many local businesses trying to cater to people who were largely locked in their cities and towns and not been able to travel much – is there a risk of your customer base shifting to local providers?
Another key consideration is – how much to focus on new customer acquisition vis-à-vis strengthening the bond with old customers

Get answers to the above questions and you can then re-plan fresh customer touch-points, confidence-building measures, and sales approach.

Create The Marketing Plan – Getting the Marketing Mix Right!

In the post-Covid-19 era, brands and soon-to-be brands will have to work hard to hold the trust of their customers and enhance brand awareness.

Now, more than before – success in marketing will require you to develop a well-researched and focused marketing strategy with a long term view but with short term assessments. This simply means that once the business goals are decided you need to have a strategy that maps short-term targets (or milestones) to the goals.

Re-evaluate the four P’s in case of your business to get the marketing mix right.

Product

Re-assess all aspects of your offerings – whether it is products or services or both that you sell. Things that you would want to look closely at –

Your offering itself (products/services). Find out if it needs to be tweaked, or changed given what has happened in 2020. There might just be more competition now or maybe the market has really shrunk. Do you need to enhance the quality or perhaps, add more features?
The customer service setup that you have (you need to have one in case you don’t!) or do you need to change the warranty support, etc.
Make sure that you are providing your customers with the best possible user-experience – whether it the product/service itself, the delivery experience, the customer support, or the overall online presence (website, social media profiles, content, ads, etc.)

Bring in key insights from your research into Customer journeys and personas (Step 2 here). At the end of this exercise, you need to be sure that your product has a differentiation or unique selling point that then will form the core of your marketing strategy.

Place

The year 2020 has changed the way consumers are buying for most of the sectors. The pandemic has forced this change and the new reality of the world requires businesses to rethink the avenues where they can reach out or sell to their customers.

Figure out all possible channels to sell to your customers.
Think online (the platforms/social channels or email, etc.), home delivery, in-stores, market places, offices, white-labeling, and more
Channels would differ depending on whether you are offering B2B or B2C or B2B2C
Look for partnerships with complementary products/services where it can be propositioned/sold alongside
Test all that you have been doing so far and analyze the results on a quarterly basis to optimize your primary channels of delivery/distribution

Price

Setting up the right price is not only important for your revenue but is also a key component of the differentiation that you offer. What competition prices and who are your target audience are the other key factors here.

Competitive pricing should focus very strongly on your price strategy for 2021. Bear in mind that the purchasing power of consumers across sectors have been impacted in 2020 due to the pandemic
Bring in as many options of payments for your consumer – make it easy for your customers to buy from you
Create a calendar for running price-focused campaigns (discount offers, etc.) all through the year. Use this to give an impetus to sales

Promotion

Well, this is your (the brand’s) active conversation with the audience (consumers).

There always has been a plethora of choices to consider when it came to creating an effective digital marketing plan – Website optimization, SEO, Social Media Marketing, PPC, Email Marketing, Content Marketing, Podcasts, Webinars, Videos, Content Marketing, and more.

Like I mentioned before; creating an effective marketing/promotion plan in 2021 might not be an easy task.

In the post-pandemic 2021 – it will be important for you to factor in the changes brought about in the world while you go about deciding your promotion activities.
The pandemic might have forced you to bring in changes to your business and these changes might have a bearing on the experience of your customers with your services/products. Communicate these changes effectively to your customers.
People want to be associated with brands and companies that have a social side as well. Make sure your firm has one and your customer knows about it
Analyze your past year data along with the revised customer journey maps to figure out the more effective marketing channels and platforms to focus on
Digital marketing is ever-evolving – be aware of new trends, platforms, and concepts that might be relevant to your audience and leverage any new opportunities that may come up

Do Quarterly Evaluation of Your Marketing Strategy

You would probably be doing plenty of analytics for different marketing activities. Such regular analysis will help you to keep an eye on specific performances and build upon valuable insights.

I suggest that you enhance your analytics bit by adding the element of evaluation of your complete marketing strategy on a quarterly basis.

Tweak to Scale-Up or Reboot!

You have to deal with a crowded marketplace where you will be fighting out with your competition – first to catch a little more than the attention of your customer and then to retain that attention to be able to proposition your value.

Don’t be afraid to tweak your marketing activities and campaigns or even reboot the marketing plan completely if needed.

Be disciplined with implementing your marketing plan. Analyze your activities and evaluate the results at planned intervals and you will be able to carry out tweaks and changes to your marketing with confidence!