16 ways to have more impact with your comms and marketing in 2022

As businesses and brands, we want what we say to move people and have a positive impact.

So, how can we make sure we’re winning hearts and minds in a world full of noise and distraction?

In our latest guide aimed at business owners and in-house marketing teams, here are some simple tips to help your marketing and communications stand out in 2022.

1) Bring fresh eyes to the challenge: The start of a new year is the perfect time for looking at things differently with your team and challenging your thinking. Don’t be afraid to ask for some outside help too if it helps you see more clearly.

2) Set clear goals: Be clear what you want to achieve. Is it sales? Brand awareness? Behaviour change? Is it as simple as creating an opportunity for a meeting with a particular person or group?

3) Get to know your audiences better: How much do you really know about the people you want to reach? Audience mapping and audience persona research can help you gain a better understanding about what makes them tick and where to reach them.

4) Stick to a few simple key messages: Your messages need to be so easy to understand you can write them on a post-it note. How clear are your messages?

5) Be more campaign focused: Doing one or two memorable campaigns rather than lots of general marketing tasks can have more impact with the people you’re trying to reach.

6) Cut the drivel: A wise PR person once said to me “SSOS – Stop Sending Out Stuff”. Make every piece of communication count. Does it help achieve your goals or does it just get in the way?

7) Become more purposeful: Discover why what you do makes a difference in the world and talk about that. Whatever sector you’re in, your customers are starting to expect you to do more to make the world a better place.

8) Use human language: Good communication is simple. Talk as if you were chatting to a friend or explaining something to your 12-year-old relative. No jargon.

9) Create powerful partnerships: Partnering with other businesses and organisations on specific campaigns can help you reach new audiences and tap into new markets.

10) Harness the power of paid media: Whether it’s paid search, paid social or other media partnerships, putting money behind your campaigns will amplify your reach and engagement.

11) Use the ‘Think, Feel, Do’ approach: A great way of winning hearts and minds is to ask what you want your audiences to think, what you want them to feel, and what you want them to do. The answers can be invaluable when formulating your campaign.

12) Create a ‘Call to Action’ – Good communication moves people to do something, so design campaigns that are clear about what you want your audiences to do. Is it downloading a free guide? Backing a safety campaign? Supporting an environmental petition? A call to action will also make your campaign more measurable.

13) Get to grips with video: If you still aren’t harnessing video in your marketing then make that change in 2022. Done properly, video can bring greater depth to your story and make a lasting impression with people.

14) Build your database – it will be more vital than ever this year: Marketing changes are being felt by all brands. Audience profiling within online advertising is set to be more limited this year, meaning that building your database (compliantly of course) will be vital to connecting with your audience. Nine in ten UK adults regularly check their email – a higher frequency than any other channel.

15) Harness the power of your people: Your people are one of your most important communication opportunities. They are the ones meeting clients and partners, so make sure they are well versed and prepared to communicate your message face-to-face.

16) Measure what matters: The only way to know if your communications is working is to measure the success of it. This is where having clear and measurable communication goals in place is vital. Good analysis will help you find out if people are engaging with your content, if your key messages are landing, what people are saying about you, and whether enquiries are being generated as a result.

Freshfield has a team of strategic PR and marketing professionals that can help you achieve success in 2022. If you would like to discuss a project our team would love to help.