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Once again, we’re moving to a new financial year – time flies by, doesn’t it?
We understand that this is a challenging period for all businesses. It’s the culmination of a long 12 months of work, to determine what worked, what didn’t and where you’re going to go from here.
The EOFY period always comes with several things that you need to wrap up, a lot of reports to finish and numbers of data to finalise. But this is also a great opportunity to gear up and start anew!
Beginnings are always exciting, don’t you agree? So, let’s talk about how we can embrace this new beginning – that is, by setting our businesses up for success with the right strategies.
In this article, we’ll share some of our best financial year marketing practices during this time.
What does the end of the financial year mean for you?
While all the finance people in your team are tinkering away and closing up everything, you’re probably looking at a new marketing budget for the next 12 months – and this is actually an exciting thing!
The new FY means you have the opportunity to reassess your current marketing initiatives and allocate your resources to the campaigns that will yield the most value. But the question now is, what exactly are these?
Remember: as the budget resets, so do your plans. So, this is a great time to get your marketing fully in order.
Here’s a pro-tip from us: content marketing – it’s as important as ever!
If one thing didn’t change, it’s that your customers are still on the continuous lookout for content, searching for value and trying to find a brand that they can associate with.
So, as we welcome a new financial year, it’s a great time to ask ourselves: are we creating content for our customers?
- If your answer is yes, then you’re on the right track and you have to continually improve to yield better results in the next 12 months.
- But if your answer is no, then this is a great opportunity for you to start fresh.
All you need is a good content marketing plan!
To set your business up for success and be a leader in your industry, it helps to have a clear-cut plan on how you’re going to connect with your audience.
And since your marketing budget resets at the beginning of the financial year, it’s also a great starting point to map out an entire year of content marketing. This way, you can have a big picture view of the upcoming year and plan ahead.
So, as we start this new season, let’s talk about how to create an effective Content Marketing Plan this financial year.
What is a Content Marketing Plan?
Your Content Marketing Plan is basically your piece-by-piece omnichannel content guide for all of your brand’s content marketing based on your business’ objectives.
A Content Marketing Plan is specific and strategic, so you can pre-plan and share pieces of well-chosen content across all of your channels that are aligned with achieving your goals. Think of it as a content to-do list that establishes the exact pieces of content, topics, themes and channels that will help you unlock the full potential of a content marketing strategy.
For this to work, your Content Marketing Plan should account for the following:
- your target customers
- the best and most relevant topics
- SEO optimisation
This plan will put your content marketing strategy into action and serve as a content outline that will provide your team with an ongoing guide around the specific content you need to create to reach your target audience.
Why do you need a Content Marketing Plan?
Plans exist to make the actual workload a bit lighter, less ad-hoc and more streamlined.
This is exactly what a Content Marketing Plan does for you.
Because sometimes, deciding what content to share is tougher than creating the content itself. So, as the new financial year approaches, it’s a great time to ask these questions:
- Are you putting in enough resources for content marketing?
- Are you heard enough by the right people?
- Are you delivering value across the right channels?
With a Content Marketing Plan, you can address all of these and more. Here are just some of the key benefits of drawing up a plan at the start of the financial year:
- It will help you formulate an omnichannel approach so your brand can be everywhere – reaching your audiences wherever it is most convenient for them.
- It will allow you to allocate your budget to the right pieces of content, so you can deliver the right message across the right channels.
- It will guide your team throughout the entire year, so you don’t have to guess your way through and come up with content pieces on the fly.
True enough, we cannot predict what the whole year will look like for the business, but having a clear-cut plan will help you navigate through the challenges that the market will bring – however uncertain these may be.
To learn more about how content marketing can help you prepare for a new and uncertain year, read how to best navigate the upcoming uncertainties.
Often, clients reach out to us and say, “Hey I’ve got this new budget and I know we need it for marketing – but I don’t really know what I’m going to do with it.”
Does this sound familiar?
Does the idea of creating content for another 12 months seem daunting to you, too? Is this the first time that you’ve worked on a Content Marketing Plan?
No stress.
You have a budget to allocate and a year to plan – and we, at Melotti Media, have some tricks up our sleeves that we can share with you to ensure you’re heading into the upcoming year with a plan that will wow your audiences, hit your KPIs and yield maximum ROI.
So, to help you out, here’s a guide on how you can prepare your Content Marketing Plan for the next financial year
These are just some of the marketing tactics you can try to get started on your planning and level up your content marketing game in the upcoming financial year:
Know your audience
To come up with an effective plan, it’s always best to start with knowing the receivers of your messages. Who are your ideal customers? What are their interests? What are their pain points? Where can you reach them?With the right content pieces delivered across the right channels, you can turn strangers into raving fans in no time – that is the magic of content marketing.
For more, read how content marketing can help move your customers up the loyalty ladder.
Research content marketing trends
Once you have identified your target audience, it’s now time to take a look at the current marketing landscape. Content marketing trends often change every year, depending on the evolving needs of your customers.To stay on par with the market, it’s important to adapt to and embrace the latest trends on the market. It’s also a great starting point if you are looking for content ideas to share.
You can check out this blog or listen to this podcast on content marketing trends for 2022 to learn more about this.
Review your existing marketing strategies
It also helps to know where you stand when it comes to your content marketing.How is your budget looking this year? Do you have more wiggle room this time to come up with more content marketing ideas? Is this the year that you can finally execute your dream content marketing ideas?
A review of your existing practises will also help you identify if it’s time to refresh your messaging and connect more with your customers.
Define your marketing goals for the financial year
Once you have established your audience’s persona, the trends and your current marketing status – you can make a list of your goals for the financial year. All of your content pieces must be created in line with these goals so you can make sure that your Content Marketing Plan is setting your business up for success.Check out this blog where we shared some EOFY tips that will help spark some ideas: EOFY marketing budget tips and marketing strategies for the financial year.
Identify the type of content that match these goals
Then, you have to choose the type of content that will appeal to your audiences’ needs and interests. Whatever pieces of content you are creating, it is essential to ensure that they are effectively reflecting your goals, your branding and your values.You can deliver content in written, audio or visual forms – and to help you choose which ones are aligned with your content marketing targets, we’ve come up with a list of content marketing types for your business and when it’s best to use them.
Create a content calendar
You can now create a customised calendar with the exact pieces of content to create along with the themes, months and channels. Your calendar can account for business milestones, holidays and other significant events throughout the year so your content can be relatable to your customers.We know this works because we have our own calendar that we live by and this has significantly made our content marketing more convenient and, of course, effective.
Communicate this with your team
It’s also important to clearly communicate all aspects of the plan with the entire team – this will make sure that (1) you are pooling all your ideas and taking the best ones and (2) no one has to do any guesswork throughout the year.Empowering the team does not only help in the individual career growth of everyone, but it also guarantees a stronger, more united team that can create the content that your audiences deserve.
When in doubt, consult a content marketing expert
If you still have concerns about your Content Marketing Plan and want to be 100% sure that you’re doing it right – you can always consult content marketing experts.At Melotti Media, we have Content Marketing Plan Development services that can help you get ahead and stay at the forefront. We’ve helped so many brands develop a strategic piece-by-piece content calendar – and we’ll be thrilled to guide you on this journey, too!
Set up business success with the right Content Marketing Plan
New financial year, new Content Marketing Plan!
With the right messaging and perfectly-timed content across the right channels, you can supercharge your content marketing success. So, to get the best results from your content, you need to carefully map out every piece of content including the subject, topic, media and audience.
We understand that this may be overwhelming at first, especially since you have a lot on your plate at this time of the year – but this will really make your content marketing easier and more effective for the next financial year.
What do you say? Are you ready to start planning?
How can Melotti Media help?
Like us, we understand that you want to achieve business success – and a powerful way is using content marketing.
However, you may find that you’re time-poor and spread thin or you still have a lot of unanswered questions.
You don’t need to worry!
At Melotti Media, we can assist with all your content marketing and copywriting needs while you focus on what matters most to you – growing your business.
Let’s start earning the results your business deserves!
To speak to your trusted message marketers and copywriters, email us at enquire@melottimedia.com.au
We can sharpen your words to achieve your goals today!
The Melotti Media Team
Melotti Media | Copywriting & Message Marketing Bureau
www.melottimedia.com.au
