Do you know what marketing is working?
Having been a marketer for some 30 years plus, I know that looking at the results of your activities and campaigns and then making informed decision is critical to the success of any marketing strategy. So it saddened me recently to hear about a colleague of mine who had employed another marketing consultancy (I believe they do exist) to implement a marketing plan on their behalf. Some 5 months in, they had no idea what had worked and what had not and found themselves constantly on the back foot when it came to results and recommendations. And given the fact that they paid the consultant a monthly retainer, I took the time to explain to them why this was simply not good enough.
What's your marketing ROI?
When it comes to marketing it’s as important to know what doesn’t work and why as it is to know what is successful. Knowing how everything is performing is key. So you need to ensure that you are monitoring, measuring and recording the results of everything you do and of course sharing it with clients and or your staff if you are doing the marketing yourself. This enables you to ditch activities that aren’t working, thus saving money, as well as giving you the opportunity refine and improve other elements to ensure greater levels of business success. And if you are a marketer it enables you to demonstrate a good return on investment and of course prove your value!
Are you flexible?
Marketing is organic and you need to be proactive and flexible enough to alter what you do should things change. However most business owners do not know what they want marketing to do for them and don’t actually set real, tangible and meaningful targets. Sometimes objectives and strategy can be blurred and occasionally I hear those dreaded words. “I think we’ll just do what we did last year!” So whilst I think that my colleague has been taken for a ride by his marketing partner, I actually don’t think they are to blame I think that my colleague is for not setting the right boundaries and parameters at the outset of their relationship.
So my advice is simply, if you’re not measuring your marketing then please make sure that you do. There are many tools available to help you to do this. Overall, I find that it’s simple and easy to set up and report on campaigns on a regular basis across multiple channels. And don’t forget to get your staff involved too – they speak to customers and prospective customers more than a marketing professional so their input and buy in is essential.
Marketing is about building relationships
And my final point is one about instant results. Marketing will bring you some quick wins, but essentially you need to do something regularly (minimum 9-12 months), consistently and as targeted as possible to get the best results in the medium to long term. Marketing is about building relationships over time using targeted communications and relevant channels.