As 2020 draws to a close… some marketing tips for 2021

By Lara Squires – Consortium More than Marketing

If I ask whether any of you will be sad to see the end of 2020, I can almost hear a collective groan and moan saying NO! What a year it has been, for business, for employees, and for human interaction! As a marketing agency specialising in professional services, we have seen some great (and not so great) shifts this year.

Looking back on 2020

What are those shifts? One has certainly been businesses have embraced virtual networking and virtual meetings, with the huge uptake of tools such as Zoom, Remo, Hopin, MS teams, etc. If anyone told you to invest in Zoom this time last year, would you have taken notice? Probably not. But no doubt virtual networking is here to stay, even if we eventually return to some form of ‘normal’ in 2021, I envisage it will be a blended mix of in-person and virtual events. It is a great way to interact with one another, whilst achieving that work-life balance (by reducing travel) and all the while saving business costs!

Take a look at my recent blog about what virtual networking opportunities are out there and what you should go to. In my recent podcast with 10½ Boots I present a case for virtual networking.

Another not so positive shift has been with marketing spend. During times of uncertainty this is quite typical, as many businesses consider some marketing activities to be non-essential, however, companies that bounce back most strongly after a recession usually do not cut their marketing spend, and in many cases increase it. Do you have a strategic or tactical marketing plan in place? If not, we urge businesses to forge ahead and plan for 2021 and beyond.

At the end of January, we’ll be launching The Consortium Marketing Coaching Club to give professional services businesses the tools they need to develop their own marketing strategy. We will cover how to set marketing objectives, how to analyse your audience and competitors, outreach tactics, and how to network to grow your business. We have 6 spaces in our group sessions, or we will have 1-2-1 sessions available. Get in touch if you are interested.

Marketing tips for 2021

Here are my marketing tips for 2021 with the caveat that as with 2020, so much can change in a short time!

1. Video is king:
   

Video has been getting a lot of attention recently, and rightly so. It is a great way to engage your audience and promote your brand.  Invest in time, budget, and effort into video content.

2. SEO Marketing:

SEO has been around for a long while, but it is becoming increasingly important for businesses, from how you present your website content, to the keywords you use in your blogs and LinkedIn profile. With Google’s new Page Experience algorithm update in May 2021, SEO and our websites are likely going to be more important than ever.

3. Client data and how you leverage it to get more clients:

How many hidden jewels do you have in your data? If only it was cleansed and segmented! I bet many businesses have the same challenge: data. There are endless possibilities to cross-sell and upsell to your existing clients, if only your data was in the right state to market to your customers according to their needs and wants. New Year’s resolution – sort your client data out!

Over the coming months we will revisit some of these tips to see what changes, as no doubt the current coronavirus uncertainty will present many more challenges in 2021.

Contact Lara via the platform or:
Email: lara@consortiumbiz.co.uk
Call: 01903 530787
www.consortiumbiz.co.uk