Spring may be coming to an end but it’s never too late for a little spring cleaning—especially when it comes to your marketing plan. By this time in the year, many of us have let our resolutions fly out the window or even forgotten to follow up on some of our goals. Life is busy, so we get it! Use this as a time to check in on your marketing plan and goals. If any of the situations below sound like your current marketing efforts, it’s time to get to updating!
1. You Aren’t Sure Who Developed the Playbook
“Because this is how it has always been done.” This is the dreaded phrase from a supervisor stuck in their ways. Maybe they aren’t even sure why your marketing plan is done the way you do it now. Consider a freeform brainstorming session where you consider new and innovative ways to reach your end user. It opens up the dialogue to try some things you’ve never tried before!
2. You Are Ignoring Emerging Trends
It’s time to try something new. Assign somebody on your team to research emerging marketing trends every so often, or split the work and take turns reminding each other. That way, you can be one step ahead of your competitors. There is always a new social media trend coming, or a new way of reaching potential customers. Think about it—social media didn’t even exist 20 years ago. You never know what the next big thing will be that could change the world.
3. Your Website Existed When the Internet Was Created
Okay, it probably hasn’t been that long since you’ve updated your marketing plan or site. But if you haven’t given any thought to your website since you uploaded your logo and first post, it’s time to get back to it. Your marketing plan should include content marketing on a regular basis to help establish yourself as an expert in your industry. Posting regularly helps keep your business’s name in the conversation. Plus, make sure your website design looks updated and fresh.
4. You Only Do Certain Types of Marketing
Maybe your business said, “out with the old, in with the new” a long time ago and ditched traditional marketing methods. While that sounds good in theory, successful marketing campaigns have been shown to be a mixture of cross-functional channels.
Sure, there are some tactics you can kick to the curb that won’t work for your business. There’s a reason “jack of all trades, master of none” is a saying. Pick a few things you can do really well, and work on perfecting them. From there, you can continue to expand your marketing repertoire with what works for your business.
5. You Aren’t Tracking Your Campaigns
It’s impossible to implement your marketing campaigns with a proven strategy if you haven’t been tracking the success of your past or current campaigns. Not tracking means you don’t know what’s working and what isn’t getting the job done. While you can read up on marketing best practices and tactics, every business is unique. Use as many analytics as you can to evaluate what types of marketing gets you the best bang for your buck.
You’ve always had what it takes to produce a killer marketing plan, it just takes practice and regular updates. Like everything in life, your marketing plan simply needs some love and attention. Make sure to set reminders to evaluate your plan every quarter to see if anything has changed.
