As we enter the 4th quarter of the year, few organisations go easy on their marketing efforts while some plan on finishing the year with a bang! The world of business certainly works in quarters.

If you are an entrepreneur or marketing personnel planning to create a focused and result-oriented Q4 marketing strategy, then get your pen and notepad ready for a detailed strategy breakdown.

Key Points in Developing a Q4 (Year-end) Marketing Strategy:

Introspect and Evaluate

No marketing strategies are perfect. Everyone faces the unexpected, where even the brightest of the plans have to take a hit. A close introspection on your yearly marketing plan, alongside the results from last year's Q4 and this year's Q3 will help determine your approach.

Considering the objective, be it sales or lead generation, the marketing strategy for the Q4 should overcome the shortcomings of the previous plans and help the organisation meet the required targets.

Make sure Everyone is on the Same Page

Once you’ve established your goals, make sure to share them with everyone else in your company or organisation. Be the facilitator and map out your strategy, but get everyone on board and include them in your plans.

Competitor Analysis

In case you have forgotten about this, "No competition, no progress.". Keep a close eye on what your competitor's strategies had this year and in the past, and try answering the following:

• How are they communicating with the customers?
• What is new in their campaign?
• Are they trying anything new this time?

The purpose of the analysis is not to replicate the ideas but to learn from them and outdo your competitors.

The customers of this era are super intelligent and are always looking for something new and exciting. Having a close watch on your competition will help you stay ahead in the game.

Marketing Medium

During your analysis of the previous marketing strategies, you can identify what mediums can help better connect your business to the customers. It could be blogs, video content, paid promotions, email marketing, or perhaps social media influencers. Focus on things that are proven to work and ignore the rest, at least for the Q4 marketing plan.

Customers are willing to spend more during Q4, which means that they’re actively seeking out businesses to fulfil their needs. Depending on the type of business, you can take advantage of the natural increase in web activity to cash in on using keywords and other SEO tactics to boost your discoverability and web presence.

Value of Interest

As we discussed in our earlier blogs, the customers nowadays are way more aware of businesses advertising. If you're selling to customers who are knowledgeable about the industry, they'll figure out your business' agenda and will be seeking out value from your product.

Q4 is the period of the year with largest volume of sales, while customers are looking for the best value deals available.

Customer service is an integral part of it as well. While many businesses try to offer discounts in the holiday season, most forget that bringing their audience educational material, webinars, and guides that are interesting will bring success in the long run.

Make your customers feel like an important part of your business. This is accomplished by ensuring they can find what they need easily and quickly, and by personalizing the service they receive.

A good CRM can help your company’s bottom line and put the power of data in the hands of managers and employees, who can work faster and smarter.

Budget and Outsourcing

Our preliminary evaluation of previous results will undoubtedly point out the activities and mediums that can be ignored and save your business, time, effort and nonetheless money.

Considering your budget, you can always outsource some of your marketing activity to a digital marketing agency for Q4.

In addition to having a budget in mind, you will need to plan to create a realistic timeline and identify your top priorities. Agencies and vendors act as an extension of your team to create an authentic marketing strategy for your brand.

Pro tip:

Calendar Planning:

The holiday season is associated with a ton of spending. Think about how your product or service will serve as a gift. Establish that connection in the mind of the consumer.

Key dates to remember in Q4:

• Halloween (31st October)
• Thanksgiving (25th November)
• Black Friday (26th November)
• Cyber Monday (29th November)
• Christmas (25th December)
• St. Stephen's Day (26th December)
• New Year's Eve (31st December)
  

We recommend creating a calendar to focus on the most important events for your business, as well as developing your strategy.

Print it and hang it in your office so that you see it every day!

Closing Thoughts

Every quarter presents its opportunities and challenges. However, you’re much more likely to be able to capitalise on the benefits and mitigate the downsides if you plan ahead.

Keep in mind that if you don’t start planning for each quarter until it begins, you’ll be behind and have a hard time creating the campaigns, content, and other assets that you’ll need to execute your strategy.

Take the time to understand where you are currently, what you did to get there and how to improve for next year.

You don't have to follow the same plan, and you don't have to have a huge budget to make an impact.

By tapping into past campaign data, businesses can identify what's worked and what hasn't, allowing the businesses to generate better return on investment (ROI) and provide insights that can lead to effective business strategies and decisions within an organization.

A proper data analysis of the quarterly customer behavior across the industry will help you derive enough information on the spending habits, keyword usage, etc., will help you make insightful decisions while creating a strategy.

However, understanding your budget needs and the type of content that works is important before moving forward. Use the budget wisely on the latest technologies to propel your company's image and vision forward and spend money where needed to make it happen.

Engage With a Digital Marketing Agency for Help

Suppose you don’t feel confident about your Q4 marketing plan this year. In that case, it’s wise to consult a group of specialists who can identify all the holes in your campaign and determine the best end-of-year marketing strategies for your budget and audience. HatchHouse is a full-service digital marketing agency employing a team of professionals who specialise in their respective jobs. We can help with your content marketing, SEO, PPC, social media, and design, delivering results. Check out our case studies and contact us today for a custom proposal.