To navigate the complexities of the ever-changing business landscape, keep up with technology and remain relevant in the eyes of customers, a lot of industry-leading companies (just like yours) have gone through some pretty big changes of late.

You’ve had to.

And congratulations! You’ve absolutely nailed it and should be so proud.

You’ve probably: 

• developed new products
• extended your solutions
• optimised a new tool to improve service delivery
• catered to more clients through consultancy
• or perhaps entered new industries. 

You’re not alone.

After all, businesses have to be innovative to continuously capture client attention and gain recurring revenue amidst all the challenges in the market. 

FORTUNATELY, the hardest part is over and your business has evolved for the better.

So, I sincerely congratulate you for surviving, thriving and keeping your business on top! Well done.

Not everyone could’ve pulled this off and it took a lot of agile competence to shift things up while also maintaining success.

But now that the new financial year is about to begin, what should your next step be?

Moving forward, how can you solidify your business’ new position, generate greater demand and earn profitable results?

The answer, as always, is simple: marketing!But not just any old marketing. Smart marketing.

What’s that, you ask? Well…

Your marketing now needs to adapt and in some cases, catch up to the changes in your business.

“Just like how your product and service offerings have shifted, so have the needs, interests and expectations of your audiences. To raise awareness, improve communications with customers and stay ahead of the competition, you must also take your marketing to the next level.”

Alexandra King, CMO & Head of Growth

Fortunately, the new financial year is the perfect time to reassess, recalibrate and realign marketing with your business’ new direction, goals and strategies.

As budgets reset, you have an ideal opportunity to develop an updated digital marketing strategy and plan, all tailored to the current path your business is taking. 

This is also when it’s best to evaluate what’s working and not, allowing you to determine how your marketing can catch up and remain relevant.

So, with the new financial year coming, what should you do? 

What steps should you take to set up your marketing for even greater success?

No worries, I’m here to guide you!

Here’s how to kick off the new financial year with marketing

Here’s the number one rule: your marketing must support your new business trajectory.  

So, as you plan for the next 12 months of the new financial year, make sure to never leave marketing out of the picture.

Here are 3 key things you can do:

1. Lock in your overarching commercial business goals.

It’s essential to begin the new financial year with everyone on your team being aware of your overarching commercial business goals. 

Whether these refer to:

• reaching revenue targets of $X
• venturing into new markets, for example the UAE
• expanding market share by X%
• improving employee retention by X%
• securing $X in investor funding 
• or other objectives

Just make sure to write them down and discuss them as a team. 

These commercial business goals are not marketing-related. What’s important is that you know where your business is headed now.

2. Identify your focus product or service offerings.

Now that you have transformed or expanded your product and service offerings to adapt to the past uncertainties in the market, you must now determine which ones are the most profitable and practical.

Ask yourself:

• What products and services are the most viable? 
• And based on this, which product or service will be the focus for the new financial year?
• Which will achieve the overarching commercial business goals? 
• What products/services will remain desirable to customers both today and tomorrow?

One trend I’ve seen in service businesses these past few months is how they’ve incorporated strategic consultancy services to cater to their customers’ changing needs. So, you may also consider adding this to your service list as well.

3. Determine who your new customers and competitors are, then recalibrate that knowledge.

Of course, to do marketing in the new financial year right, you need to be clear about who your new customers and competitors are. This is important, especially with all the changes your business has encountered recently.

At Ask Marketing, we have a checklist and matrix that can guide you in performing competitor analysis. Also, our 9-Step Digital Marketing Strategy Guide consists of a customer persona template to help identify your ideal customers as well.

You might also want to have a look at your past Financial Year and identify what kinds of clients are delivering the highest returns. Make sure to bear their characteristics, preferences and pain points in mind when listing your target market.

By doing these 3 things, you’ve already begun to recalibrate your marketing and build your business’ marketing plan.

What you just need now is a digital marketing strategy that will put this 3-step marketing foundation into action!

Serving as your marketing roadmap, a digital marketing strategy plays a crucial role in helping you launch effective campaigns for your business. It includes:

• qualitative and quantitative goals
• content marketing requirements
• a resourcing plan 
• website conversion points 
• the list of marketing tools and platforms you can optimise.

So, to achieve ongoing marketing success, you must be supported by experts who can help you develop a complete digital marketing strategy and help you execute it. 

Fortunately, all you have to do is ASK!

At Ask Marketing, we can take care of all your digital marketing needs, help you make the most out of your marketing budget and save you hours of time and energy so that you can focus on growing both your business and revenue.

We equip you with a Decisive Strategy + Effective Execution that brings more demand – this financial year and beyond.

Do you need help with your business’ marketing?

As we always say, all you have to do is ASK!

At Ask Digital Marketing, we combine decisive digital strategy and managed marketing execution to help B2B service-based businesses build demand, establish thought leadership and own their industry through digital business marketing.

Stop waiting. Start building. Experience success.

Just get in touch with us and we can discuss your business and the ways we can help you navigate the digital marketing landscape.

Together, solidify your marketing plan and achieve your business goals! 

For more great marketing content, connect with our company leaders, Alexandra King and Stephanie King, or follow our Ask Marketing LinkedIn page.

Let’s harness the power of digital marketing today!