How to Create Your Online Marketing Plan for 2016

Businesses are always looking for fresh ways to market themselves, as every year brings new trends. According to a report by Ericsson, consumers bought into the ideas of interconnected technologies and a sharp rise in mobile payments in 2015.

Design trends were also on the rise as minimalism, parallax scrolling and landing pages utilizing full-screen text and background images became popular, according to Smart Insights.

But how can a brand make sure its digital strategy is put together for the new year and beyond?

Here's the three strategies to pick up when developing your online marketing plan for 2016:

Pre-planning

Before planning your 2016 strategy, it's important to set measurable goals for each tactic. Keep track of these goals using a spreadsheet with quantifiable metrics.

If possible, invest in landing page software that will measure your return on investment on campaign tactics and other valuable metrics.

Once this is finished, you're ready to begin implementing strategies.

1. Play on Your Strengths

Before going forward, examine what your brand currently has and what elements are new enough to leave as is. For example, check to see when you most recently updated the company Web page.

If you updated it within the last two to three months, you should only have to make minor tweaks instead of major overhauls.

Examine further what your brand specializes in. Does it provide smart and funny website copywriting that turns social media leads into conversions? Perhaps your email marketing campaigns are where you get most of your sales or even the mobile store that lets consumers pick up orders on location.

Regardless, determine what elements need the least amount of work so you can focus on areas that need improvement for 2016.

2. Optimize Your Landing Page

According to Forbes, one of the top marketing trends for 2015 was optimizing Web pages for high conversion rates and ROI. This trend is expected to continue, so it's important to make sure your websites are in tip-top shape.

Make sure all of your pages have social media buttons linking back to your accounts and include buzzwords that let consumers know that your products are limited. This applies the scarcity principle to your products and makes them seem more desirable to customers.

Lastly, make sure your landing pages include inventive content such as product videos or creative call-to-action buttons.

Unique content and CTA buttons can give your brand the personality it deserves and a reason for shoppers to come back! Successful examples of these principles include landing pages for retro clothing brand Modcloth and luxury accessories brand Kate Spade.

Notice how each landing offers unique features to entice leads such as a "Quick Shop" CTA button or a tagline over a product reading "New & Improved Fit" or "Video."

3. Reach New audiences

Looking to expand your brand's reach? Instead of repeatedly targeting the same consumers, offer your services to look -alike audiences.

According to Facebook, look -alike audiences consist of " ... people who are likely to be interested in your business because they're similar to customers you care about." When creating a custom audience in Facebook, you can create a look -alike audience that targets similar people to expand your product's reach.

This means your posts will come up as a promotional content on Facebook. Similarly, expand your reach in email by asking leads to sign up for your service's newsletter as soon as they open your page. Offer exclusive discounts to sweeten the deal, and your page will see an instant increase in ROI.

By following the advice above, a business can create an effective online marketing plan.