Have you finalized your marketing strategy for 2016?

Editor’s note: Molly Boyer is senior director of global communications at customer experience firm SDL, Denver. This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared here under the title, “3 must haves for every ‘modern marketing’ strategy.”

It is a new year and, if you are like me, you have a renewed vision of what you are going to accomplish in 2016. With this I have been thinking a lot about marketing focus and execution and what that really means for organizations. For those of you who have already nailed down your budgets, contracted your advertising, put a few events on the calendar and kicked off a few campaigns, congratulations. You are way ahead of the game. But for those of you who are still planning or have not yet finalized your strategy for 2016, what will you focus on?

As the head of social for my company, I obviously put a lot of focus on social – how can we increase referral traffic, foster engagement, contribute to the funnel and get our employees to become our biggest advocates. But there are so many other pieces we have to bring together to create an effective marketing strategy. For this blog I picked out a few of my favorites and have focused on why you need to include them your plans (if you haven’t already!).

Customer experience, CX, CXM, CEM … regardless of what you call it, CX is alive and present. It lives in the e-mails we send out, the Web sites we build and the mobile apps we push. And we do this why? Because we want to ensure that what we are doing, without fail, is geared towards providing a better experience for our customers. OK, cool. But what does that REALLY mean?

I think it means integration. Integration across digital platforms (social, Web, mobile), customer service and in-person experiences (to name a few) to ensure that your customers experience with your brand is seamless from one stage to the next. I recently read an article on TopRankBlog, where Jeannine Rossignol, vice president, marketing for large enterprise operations at Xerox was quoted saying, “For 2016, integration and relevance are my key digital marketing priorities. Relevance is about unwavering focus on our clients and prospects all at stages of their buyers’ journey. Integration means to be where they are, engaging in digital conversations that lead them from one stage of their buyers’ journey to the next.”

So as you move through your strategy for 2016, continually ask yourself: “What programs am I putting in place that help drive the customer journey and how will they contribute to a positive (and financially successful) outcome?”

Digital – or should I really just say marketing programs? After all, digital marketing, is modern marketing. As technology evolves, so do consumers and so should marketing programs. Social, Web, mobile, ecommerce, etc. must be part of your strategy if you hope to connect with your consumers where they live. So think about all of the touchpoints you have with your customers – are you allowing them to build a journey that is personal to them? Or are you stuck in the marketing dark ages?

A recent survey by Gartner, CMO Spend Survey 2015-2016: Digital Marketing Comes of Age, cited social media as leading the way for 2016 marketing spend – with nearly 65 percent of CMOs naming it as their main priority for the year. After all, social is a great way to build top-of-funnel (and middle and bottom …), build awareness and share content to a broad audience. But why do it all yourself? Your employees are your best advocates, have them lend a hand! By training your employees to do social and do it well, you cast a much wider net and are reaching so many more people than may follow you on Twitter or like your Facebook page. There are many great platforms out there to help you manage this and get your employees involved in sharing your content, but be sure to train them and offer them the assistance they need to be successful.

It is important to remember that no marketing strategy can be a one-size fits all approach. In order to enable your customers to take the journey they wish to take with your brand, you have to give them the keys to the right vehicle to drive their journey. So don’t place your focus on just a few marketing tactics. Look at how they all integrate, how they will encourage the customer experience and how your own employees can help get the message out.

Happy planning and here’s to successful marketing in 2016!