Making the Most of Your Marketing Plan
Faith Manning
Customer Success Officer
Finding your way in today’s marketing landscape is daunting, and keeping up with current marketing plan trends and your own success metrics while running a business is quite a balancing act. There are a few overarching strategies businesses can implement to manage their marketing plan.
Here’s a quick rundown of 5 checkpoints to help you stay on track:
Identify Your Goals
What do you want to accomplish in the next couple of months? What about by the end of 3 years? Staying focused on your short and long-term goals as you figure out your marketing plan will steer your efforts and help you prioritize your time and budget with immediate needs and upcoming projects.
Analyze Your Analytics
Most platforms like Google, Facebook, NextDoor, etc., offer businesses free analytics. Leveraging the knowledge from access to online interactions with your business profiles to your next online marketing moves is key. Another vital metric comes from feedback and interactions with your clientele. Asking how they heard about you or what brought them in can give you great insight. Find out how they use your products or services and determine your most popular offerings. Customer success metrics will be quite important in relation to your marketing efforts as a whole.
Respond to Trends
Watching current marketing trends for new opportunities and finding the value in the trends emerging from your endeavors will help you adjust your strategy.
If announcing flash sales on Instagram stories is getting people in the door, or if folks are responding to ads you have placed in a local newspaper — keep at it. There is no reason to stop if you see results. If you see an uptick from a different advertising area, shift some of your focus there and so on.
Keep Up With Your Competition
If you are not the only game in town, paying attention to what your competitors are doing is advisable. Identify and showcase what sets you apart from the competition with your own messaging and offers to keep you competitive and a contender to consumers looking for your services. Try new things and get noticed!
Increase Engagement
I do believe that there is nothing like a satisfied customer. They will tell others about you and sometimes go the extra mile of giving them your number or website address. If someone is satisfied with your services, there is no harm in asking them to leave you a review. Whether on Google, Facebook, or even a handwritten note, that testimony to your good work will go a long way and can be displayed on your website or other communications. Check your online business profiles regularly for communication from users. People often leave reviews online and ask questions about your business, and providing timely answers and feedback can be a significant conversion factor.
Reacting swiftly to your accomplishments and failures will keep you on track to meet your goals. Once you become involved, inside and out, in your marketing plan, you will learn evaluative details and rhythms about your business and your customers that will drive future success.
