june2021 - 33

FEATURE
POST-PANDEMIC PRIORITIES:
Reassess Your Target Markets
By Jennifer Marsnik, Edge Marketing, Inc.
YAY! AT LONG last we are finally seeing light at the end of
the pandemic tunnel. With increasing vaccinations, many
accounting firms, technology companies and service providers
are slowly moving back from remote work to in-person
environments. But are we really going back to normal? In
some ways, yes. In other ways ... not exactly.
As we navigate our way toward
what will surely be a new normal,
now is a good time to pause and
recognize the things that may have
changed permanently.
Reevaluating current conditions
starts with a self-assessment. Questions
to consider may include:
* What has changed with respect to
your organization's goals/objectives,
its priorities, its values and its
mission?
* Have any road maps or expansion
schedules been altered? Are they
simply delayed, or have they been
modified significantly?
* Many firms and companies were
forced to adjust their service
delivery operations last year - will
any of those changes be adopted
permanently?
* Were impacts to your 2020 marketing
and PR budgets carried over to this
year, and how is that informing
decisions for the remainder of this
year and for 2022?
* Does your department or the team
you rely on to help execute strategies
and tactical plans look different
from the resources you had in place
pre-COVID-19?
After taking an honest look at
your own situation, consider the
market at large. Remote work and
various aspects of dealing with the
pandemic have dominated conversations
for more than a year, but as
we move forward, what trends are
getting attention now?
What areas have seen an uptick
in activity? One example might
be the increase we've seen in PPP
services and support over the last
year, but will that continue or will
the need for this service go away?
Cloud technology usage, remote
offices and meetings and virtual or
hybrid trade shows are prevalent
adaptations to the pandemic. Now
is a good time to think about where
we've seen accelerated technology
adoption to ensure smoother and
more efficient communication,
operations and promotion. Which
of those trends are here to stay?
After looking inward and at the
broader market, it is also crucial to
reassess your target audience(s) and
understand how the pandemic has
impacted your clients and prospects.
What has changed for them?
As with your self-assessment,
there are some key questions to consider
with respect to your targets:
* Are their pr ior it ies and pain
points the same as they were
pre-COVID-19?
* Have they modified operations or
how to deliver products or services?
* What technology or resource
changes did they adopt to support
remote work?
* Are they back in offices or still
working remotely?
An important question to
consider is not just which of those
changes may be permanent, but
whether or how those changes
will influence the buying process.
Are the same departments or individuals
as before still influencers
or responsible for the same level of
decision-making? Many organizations
have modified their purchasing
and operations protocols, so
understanding how this might affect
your sales or marketing efforts is
especially important.
Essentially, now is the time to
reexamine everything you know
about your target audience(s) so that
you can reassess your own public
relations and marketing strategies
based on the changes your audiences
have experienced.
To ensure you're still reaching
the right targets with the right messaging
and using the right channels,
start with some basics:
* Revisit buyer personas:
* Who are you talking to, and are
they the same people as before?
* Are your buyer demographics
different?
* What are their responsibilities and
have those changed?
* How do they define success in
their roles?
* Has your value proposition changed?
* Do your key messages st i l l
effectively communicate your
value proposition, and do they
resonate with target audience(s)?
* Are the channels used to communicate
with your audiences the
same as pre-pandemic?
For some organizations, perhaps
very little has shifted. But for others,
going through this exercise may
uncover a number of adjustments
that are necessary to keep your marketing
and PR strategies successful
through 2021 and beyond. ■
With Edge Marketing (formerly Accounting
Edge Marketing) since 2007, Jennifer
Marsnik specializes in helping clients
develop and implement strategic plans
that support their overall business goals.
She lives in the Twin Cities area with her
husband and two daughters and enjoys
golf and cheering on the Twins, Vikings
and U of M Gophers.
JUNE 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
33
http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
june2021

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