As we close out this financial year, it’s a good time for marketers to take a step back, take a breath, and prepare. With performance reviews on the horizon, new budgets on the way and six more months of the calendar year to come, ADMA has pulled together a list of priorities for marketers to look at in order to best prepare for the new financial year.

1. Take a microscope to your business’ successes and learnings

It is crucial to have clarity around what your business, team, and yourself did well, and perhaps didn’t do as successfully, over the past year. Identify what strategies, campaigns, or initiatives worked well and contributed to your marketing objectives. Likewise, acknowledge the areas that didn't yield the desired results and ensure you understand the reason why.. Use these insights to inform your budget planning for the upcoming year and allocate resources to the strategies that have proven successful.

Were there projects or plans that didn’t get off the ground at all? Think about why this happened and identify the support you or your team need to get these projects underway.

2. Set your professional relationships up to flourish

Marketers are sometimes stuck within silos, but this is the chance to connect with your non-marketing colleagues to take stock of work you jointly achieved. You may already have a good foundation of collaboration, but as the very role of marketing changes, it’s important to see who else you can connect with to make your own role more impactful.

And if you’ve attended any training, events or conferences over the past year, check in with any connections you made. Ask yourself - is there anyone you’d like to network with more, or people you’d like to meet this year? This will help you proactively develop your network.

3. Weigh up your personal brand and online presence

This is a good time to update your LinkedIn profile and online presence to showcase your professional achievements and key projects. Highlight successful campaigns, events, trips or any notable accomplishments that demonstrate your expertise and value as a marketer. A well-curated online presence can attract potential clients or opportunities and help position you as a thought leader in your industry.

4. Identify personal opportunities for development

Reflect on the struggles and successes you encountered throughout the past year. Use this self-assessment to identify personal opportunities for development and areas where you want to upskill. There are certain areas more important for marketers to build their knowledge and proficiency in, such as customer experience, privacy compliance and financial literacy. Beyond these, think about any skills you’re lacking and may be interested in learning to take your role to the next level.

This reflection will not only benefit your personal growth, but can also help you prepare for any performance reviews and ensure you have proactively identified the professional development areas you want to focus on.

5. Consider how the economic environment may impact your role

While reports may suggest that Australia has staved off a recession, we all understand that we’re living in a tense economic environment. Consecutive interest rate rises and a skyrocketing cost of living have left many consumers worried. 

Take the time to gauge the impact this uncertainty may have on your business. Work with your partners, suppliers and customers to understand how the economy is affecting their businesses. Consider working more closely with your finance teams to understand their concerns for the new year, and ensure that any inefficiencies from last year’s budget are eliminated..

6. Check in on what your cookieless future looks like

The timer is on, and ticking away, on the deprecation of third party cookies. At this stage, many businesses have already started implementing alternatives. If so, evaluate how well these have been working, and consider how they may be improved over coming months so that your business is well placed to flourish once the cookies finally deprecate next year.

If you haven’t picked a third party cookie alternative yet, time is running out. Review what solutions may best suit your business, and hold discussions with your agencies and partners to ensure they are compliant and well-versed in the evolving privacy landscape. 

It can sometimes be difficult to be proactive when you’re caught up in the daily routine of your role. But, by taking some time to follow these six steps, you’ll be better placed to adapt to any challenge and can meet the new financial year head on.