Remember all those new year’s resolutions we recommended for your business back in January? Well now that we’re solidly into 2016 and we’re ready to bid farewell to the winter doldrums, it’s a great time to evaluate how you’re doing and do some spring cleaning and fine tuning for your marketing strategy.
Analyze your Budget
Look at the funds you allocated for marketing in 2016 and check how you’re doing. Are you spending more or less than you thought, or are you right on track? Is one area of your marketing plan, say email marketing, adding more value than another area? Depending on how long you’ve been in business, it might be early days to deem any marketing efforts a success or failure, but you might consider spending more on the things that are working best and scrapping the ideas that aren’t giving you bang for your buck. Now is also the time to start thinking more about your busiest times of year, and even the holidays. It might sound hard to believe, but having a solid plan for the holidays by July is good business.
Tidy Up (your contact list)
Invigorating a stale email list is a great way to increase your engagement numbers. If you’ve been underwhelmed by the number of clicks, opens or conversions you’re getting from your email lists, or if your lists are on the older side, you might want to think about cleaning up your contacts. A great way to do that is with an “opt in” campaign to your current customers. Use snappy messaging or a promotional offer to remind your customers why they signed up to receive your content in the first place, then ask them to re-confirm that they’d like to stay on your list.
Your list may seem smaller in terms of sheer numbers, but it’s more valuable because you are targeting only current customers who are ready, willing and open to hearing what you have to say.
Refine your Voice
After reviewing your overall marketing plan, it’s time to get down to brass tacks. Which messages and campaigns are having the most impact? Pick out your most successful campaign, newsletter or ad copy and try to pinpoint exactly what made it so successful. Was it funny or matter-of-fact? Did it solve a problem for your customers? Was it a traditional sale or promotion that you advertised in a different way? Asking yourself these questions will give you a head start the next time you have to come up with a new marketing strategy. In the end, that will save you money and will make your brand even stronger.