Getting a head start on your year-end priorities can ensure a smooth and successful transition into the next fiscal year. At Able&Co., we specialize in helping businesses plan and execute strategies effectively. Too often, we’ve seen companies get caught off guard by the needs of the rest of the year by not properly strategizing. So, we want to share our process and tips for planning.
Monitoring Your Business Goals Both Monthly and Quarterly
As a business leader, continually checking your progress toward your annual goals is crucial. At the halfway point of the year is a typical time to evaluate whether you are on track to achieve your objectives. When thinking about quarterly and monthly goals, you typically think about those larger goals and the steps needed to meet those goals. So it’s not something you’re going just to be able to do in a day or a week; it’s something that has to compound itself. Take the opportunity to reflect on your progress and make any necessary adjustments to ensure you finish the year strong. Waiting until the holiday blitz of Q4 can be too late, as the end-of-year rush can overwhelm even the best-laid plans. Not meeting your goals early can lead to missed opportunities, decreased revenue and a less competitive position in the market.
Common Reasons Businesses Don’t Achieve Their Goals
Another major hindrance to success for in-house marketing teams is needing more resources, such as funding, staff, or technology. Meeting your goals is a multi-faceted effort that may require more than your team can handle.
Your team needs to stay on top of how consumers use technology and interact with brands so that you can identify media channels and develop marketing strategies that resonate with your target audience. Creating engaging content can be highly costly and time-intensive for a smaller in-house marketing staff. Managing a multi-channel marketing strategy requires the development of a comprehensive brand style guide. Working with a limited marketing budget requires careful evaluation and analysis of the performance of each channel and tactic. Building brand awareness involves conducting market research and analyzing customer data and feedback. On top of all that, you must hire and maintain your in-house team, which consists of competing in the job market with other agencies and in-house marketing teams, creating a diverse and inclusive work environment, and continuously monitoring and measuring team performance.
Businesses can also undergo crucial changes to their structure, which can be distracting for everyone—including the marketing department. During a merger or acquisition, plans are adjusted, goals are reevaluated, people are hired and laid off, and marketing can take a back seat if you don’t have an agency partner.
As a manager, you need to assess your resources regularly and seek out growth opportunities, such as partnerships or funding opportunities, to achieve your goals. Addressing these issues now, during the slower days of summer, is vital to making it across the finish line. And the key is having a dedicated team of experts as your partner, providing you with a sense of security and support.
The Benefits of Hiring an Agency
Hiring a marketing agency to organize and align your annual plan with your business goals can offer numerous advantages. One of the most significant benefits is leveraging the expertise and experience of professionals with years in the industry. These experts can develop and execute effective marketing strategies tailored to bring results, which is particularly beneficial for small marketing teams. An agency’s deep understanding of the marketing landscape ensures your strategies are current and effective, helping you stay ahead of the competition. This assurance can empower you to focus on other aspects of your business.
Marketing agencies excel in strategic planning, developing comprehensive marketing plans that guide your efforts and optimize your resources. These plans consider your budget, target audience, and business goals, and are tailored to your needs. Beyond marketing, agencies can also explore other business aspects, such as product/service development, communication goals and customer satisfaction, ensuring a holistic approach that aligns your marketing efforts with overall business objectives.
Another advantage of hiring a marketing agency is the fresh perspectives they bring. Agency team members come from diverse backgrounds and have experience working with various clients, providing new ideas and strategies that your internal team might have yet to consider. For example, they might suggest innovative ways to use social media to reach your target audience or propose a unique campaign that sets your brand apart from the competition. This injection of creativity and innovation can significantly enhance your marketing efforts.
Time savings is another significant benefit. Running a business requires immense time and effort, and marketing is a full-time job in itself. Outsourcing to a marketing agency allows you to focus on other business aspects while the agency handles your marketing needs. Agencies can support internal team members, allowing them to focus on their strengths while the agency manages other tasks.
Managing a rapidly changing marketing landscape requires staying informed, embracing new technologies, fostering a culture of innovation, building diverse teams and staying agile. Marketing agencies excel in these areas, ensuring your strategies remain effective and up-to-date. Since an agency’s entire organization is dedicated to achieving marketing excellence, they keep up with changing consumer behavior by conducting thorough market research, monitoring industry publications, analyzing customer data, keeping an eye on competitors and attending industry events and conferences. This helps identify trends and adjust strategies accordingly.
Another area where agencies shine is creating engaging content. They understand your target audience, conduct research to identify popular topics, use various formats to deliver content, prioritize quality, incorporate visuals, stay up-to-date with industry trends, and encourage engagement. Consistency in brand identity is crucial, and a marketing agency can help develop a strong brand identity and ensure consistent messaging across all channels. This is especially important for businesses aiming to establish themselves as industry thought leaders.
In summary, hiring a marketing agency provides expert advice, fresh perspectives, measurable results, cost-effective solutions and time savings. Once you’ve decided to bring on an agency partner, you’ve got to be sure it’s the right one.
Why Able&Co.?
Choosing the right marketing agency is crucial to ensure your business is positioned for success. Able&Co. is the ideal partner to help you craft and execute a strategic marketing and advertising plan to position your brand as the most compelling choice. Our expertise in media planning and brand strategy is designed to engage prospective customers and convince them that your brand best meets their needs.
At Able&Co., we excel in media planning by leveraging comprehensive market research to understand your audience and the competitive landscape. Our team is adept at positioning, ensuring your brand stands out in the marketplace. Our strategic plans and creative concepts are designed to engage prospective customers through comprehensive market research, brand positioning, creative development, lead generation and cross-channel promotion.
Our brand strategy is at the heart of everything we do. Your brand should offer a unique promise to a specific audience, fulfilled in a market-relevant style and distinct from competitors. Our brand strategists are ready to work alongside your team to create a plan for alignment through brand workshops or consultations. We measure brand effectiveness, explore and understand your core brand promise, audience, and competitive landscape. Our team will then identify key messages and provide suggestions for implementation to help you occupy mindshare. Our team can implement this plan or take it as a standalone report. A brand workshop or assessment is a significant first step toward elevating your brand to the next level.
Able&Co. has a proven process that works across all industry verticals. For instance, our work with The JAG Game of Life campaign provided The Jim Allen Group with the extra bandwidth they needed, encompassing a comprehensive digital campaign, print advertising and engaging on-site activities. We used animated graphics and targeted ads on OTT and digital banners for maximum visibility, along with eye-catching visuals in local publications and event brochures. The campaign’s success underscored the importance of innovative thinking and connecting with audiences meaningfully, resulting in increased sales, web traffic, leads and overall engagement.
Another example of the immense value of having a team of experts, we played a pivotal role in promoting an important i4DM event. For the September 2023 webinar, “Zero Trust and the Remote Workforce,” we implemented a comprehensive strategy that included creative design, messaging, advertising, event planning, and execution. Our team handled art direction, graphic design, copywriting, proofing, coordination, programming, media strategy, and testing. One of our key contributions was identifying all cooperative funds, which often requires diligent searching and proactive inquiries. Your partners may not always make you aware of available cooperative fund programs, so we make it a point to ask and research the terms of partnerships. With our extensive experience on these kinds of projects, we can even connect with our clients’ partners, show them the value of the project and implore them to create cooperative fund programs where none exist. we ensure a robust portfolio of communication assets is always at the ready. With these funds, we created a portfolio of communications assets, including digital banner ads for desktop and mobile, pre-roll ads, social media marketing, and streaming audio so no cooperative dollars went unused. This holistic approach ensured a professional, well-attended webinar, driving significant engagement and allowing i4DM to focus on their logistical goals.
The end of the year is a critical time for businesses, and heading into it with a robust plan can make all the difference. Don’t wait until the last minute — evaluate your team’s capabilities and start planning now to maximize your holiday season success and end the year on a high note. Reach out to Able&Co. today to craft a marketing strategy to set you up for a successful Q4 and a strong 2025.
