I’m sure you’re seeing all of the “New Year’s Marketing Resolution” articles making their way into your inbox or social media feeds by now. Around this time every year, it’s a chance for marketers to offer their marketing predictions for the year to come, predictions that may or may not become a reality.

trendsetters in abundance 

Then come all the trends that are exploding onto the scene each year claiming “These are the top 7 trends in marketing you NEED to focus on in 2022” and so on. Native video this, Meta mania that. Too often business owners are bombarded with the next big shiny marketing trend or prediction that is said by many marketers to bring a colossal impact on the way we either market our business or operate our business in general. It’s no surprise their mind is so clouded with promises of top-performing strategies and ideas that business owners forget about the fundamental facets of marketing in their business. 

like a moth to a flame

When it comes to marketing, business owners tend to gravitate towards the ‘shiny object’ side of marketing. Videos, Instagram and content are just a few things they are naturally attracted to, like a moth to a flame. 

As a marketing strategist in 2021, I’ve had countless conversations with business owners around their marketing infrastructure or lack-thereof. Usually, these exchanges involve this question and answer: 

Me: “How has your marketing performance been over the past 12 months?”;

Them: “It’s ok… I’m not 100% sure. It’s pretty scattergun and has been for a while now. But we have been doing some [insert name of their favourite social media platform] advertising.”

Me: “Oh yeah? How has that been going for you?”

Them: “It’s been ok. I’m pretty sure it’s been great awareness for our brand and we’ve acquired some new followers on our [insert name of their favourite social media platform here].”

I’m sure this will sound familiar to a lot of you reading this article right now. While a lot of people are doing it, this scattergun or ad-hoc approach to marketing is dangerous to the growth of your business. Usually, this approach means you’ve fallen victim to the next trend, or the next ‘big thing in marketing’ without even knowing if it’s the right approach for your business and your vision. Not every marketing trend is the right fit for every business and you could potentially end up spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on tactics you have been told are going to work but they actually deliver little or no return on investment. 

There is a reason why some businesses have success with a consistent flow of ideal leads each year whilst some struggle to attract anything worthwhile. For many small to medium-sized businesses, success comes from forming a marketing infrastructure that will attract leads, nurture those leads, convert them into customers and create advocates and referral drivers. The ones who don’t see any significant growth are those who are easily influenced by the trends, the shiny marketing objects, without any real thought to a strategy and if those trends or predictions are right for their business. 

the only marketing resolution that matters 

Before you start drooling over the marketing trends and predictions for 2022, set yourself the one marketing [New Year’s] resolution you need as a business owner. Build a marketing infrastructure. Simply put, this is a system or structured marketing approach that will attract leads to your business and nurture them through to a point where they are ready to buy from you. 

Your marketing infrastructure may include specific assets and platforms for different stages of the customer buying decision lifecycle. Things like landing pages and premium content to capture lead information, valuable reports and free tools to nurture those leads, and automation and sales strategies to convert those leads into paying customers. 

Before you go investing in ‘shiny object’ marketing, whether that be as a hard cost or a cost of someone’s time, get the foundations of your marketing in place first. If you don’t have a marketing infrastructure, you’ll end up spending money that shouldn’t be spent, and eventually be one of those business owners who say “marketing doesn’t really work for us”. 

Make sure you take some time out between now and the start of the new year to set aside the ‘shiny objects’ while you establish your marketing infrastructure as this should be your number one marketing resolution for 2022.