It’s not about trends, it’s about foundations.

2023… The big question. What should we be thinking, what should we be focusing on, where should we be investing our time, money and energy to deliver monumental returns.

Trend report, after trend report.

If you dig deep enough you will find a prediction for all sectors, and for each eventuality.

But the thing with trends, they come and go.

Some are spot on, others miss the mark completely.

And whilst I will always love a trend report, as they get you out of the myopic view that often happens working head down in a business. Taking them as an absolute truth can be dangerous as they don’t account for the individual nuances of your business and category.

So instead of sharing any trends year, I thought I would start by sharing 5 things you should be focusing on building into your business this year at a foundational level.

As it is only from a strong foundation that growth will happen.

1. Know your customer inside out

What is the need/ want/ desire that you satisfy. Why do they buy you in the first place?

What is the thing that is holding them back- where are they on the educational journey.

Do they understand why you are the best fit for them.

It is your job to intimately understand the challenges and desires of your customers and then be able to translate this information to build out both your product and your marketing plan. 

What do they need to see from your or hear from you, in order to position you as the best solution for them? What do you need to do to nudge them along in the journey towards buying whatever it is that you are selling.

2. Build a brand don’t sell a product

A brand is so much more than a look and feel- a logo, a colour pallet.

A brand is the reason that they give you the sale. A brand is the reason why they choose you over your competitor. Without a solid brand you are just a product in a sea of millions of products.

You need to build a brand that connects with your target consumers-a brand that stands for something and represents to consumers the vision that they see for themselves of themselves.

Whilst building your brand may not give you the immediate ROI, but over time it will act as the draw card. People will actively seek it out, tell others about it. In times of reduced consumer confidence and tighter budgets it will be the thing that stops people exclusively purchasing on price.

3. Create value

Attention is the biggest challenge for all brands. It is cluttered and fragmented out there and it's going to get worse.

You are not just competing against your competitors but against things that people are genuinely seeking out and actively looking for- be it brands, people, TV shows, movies, entertainment.

You have to infiltrate their world.

You need create things that make people want to spend time with your brand.

Things that add genuine value.

Whether this is a piece of video content, a guide, a closed community, the actual output is by the by. Instead focus on where the customer is on an emotional level, what do they need from you to better serve them. Is this education, inspiration to better themselves? A platform for support or or is it a simply a case of entertainment- giving them a moment of respite to their day. What can you do to create an active moment of engagement with your brand?

Instead of thinking about pushing messages onto people, flip your approach. What can you be creating that pulls people towards your brand. What can you do that is an additive to them and their live?

4. Consistency

It's the unsexy truth of marketing, that brands are build on consistency.

Memory structures are built by saying the same thing, time and time again.

You will get sick of your brand messages long before your customers will even realise what it is that you do. You need to find new and interesting ways to say the same thing again, again and again….

 And finally….

5. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

There will always be a new shiny thing. Something that you could be doing. A new channel that you could be playing in. Sometimes these new shiny things could genuinely propel you forwards and are worth an investment, other times they can quickly become a time and money suck.

I personally have two ways of appraising any new opportunities- both start with the assumption that I have at first have a solid starter in place already.

1- will it bring riches or will it bring fame

What is the answer to both of these questions and how does they stack up against what I am already doing

2- 70/20/10

When I am dividing up a budget (time, energy and effort), I split it into 3 areas

 70% should be about delivering the strategy that you have set out- tried and tested.

20% for new opportunities (experimenting within known parameters)

10% for wild untested areas.