So here are a few things to watch out for as you start planning your marketing activations for next year. ❕

1) Before you do anything, define your goal. 🥅 Setting realistic goals is very time consuming, but it’s worth the effort, as it aligns all your marketing activations towards the right strategy and also creates cohesion on your team. 👭 Setting the right expectations, otherwise known as attainable goals will set your marketing up for success. 🏆

2) Marketing teams might shy away from setting goals due to the uncertainty of microeconomic impacts or the fact that they’re not sure how efficient their paid spend will become over the next few months. 📊 This is why implementing H2 replan is the way to go. 🛣 Replanning at the mid-year mark, should be part of your goal setting framework. It's important to plan your KPIs and goals before the fiscal year starts, but it's even more important to check in half-way through the year and see how you’re actually pacing and see if your goals are still realistic. 🚗 🌀

3) Never let a phrase like ‘we’ve always done it like this’ go without being questioned. ⁉ Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean that it’s not working if you’ve always done it like that, but it’s worth a question as to why. Has it brought you growth? 📈 Would it be worth it to test another approach? Are you potentially missing out on more growth? 🏗

4) Define your targeting. 🎯 You can’t target everyone in the world. That will simply not work. How will you define your messaging if you don’t know who you’re targeting? It also won’t be cost effective either. 💰 Ensure you understand your target market before you start creating content and spending media dollars. 💸

5) Goal setting is as much a science as it is an art. 👩‍🎨 So enjoy it and then crush them next year! ⚡