As the end of summer nears, organizational leaders should consider reviewing the overall marketing strategy they’ve completed so far this year. How’s it doing? If it’s not going well, there’s still time to make modifications to help make sure your sales numbers reach your goal by year end.

What Success Looks Like in A Marketing Strategy

The simple questions you might ask regarding your marketing strategy is, “What are we trying to accomplish, and can we still get there?” Determine as specifically as possible what marketing success should look like this year.

If the goal is indeed to increase sales, what metrics are you using to calculate whether you’ve achieved adequate growth? You should be able to lay out these metrics in a report or chart to help you determine whether your money has been well spent so far.

Many companies divide their marketing efforts between recurring activities and ‘one off’ or ad-hoc initiatives. For example, they invest in advertising on certain websites, social media platforms, or in a magazine or newspaper. Then they look for special opportunities, such as a local festival or annual trade show. You should have data indicating whether these initiatives are paying off, too.

Fine tune your efforts going forward by comparing inflows to outflows from various types of marketing. Will you be able to create a revenue inflow from sales that at least matches, if not exceeds, the outflow of marketing dollars?

Tracking Methods

It’s imperative to track sources of new business, as well as leads and customers. Be sure your staff is asking new customers how they heard about your company. This one simple question can provide invaluable information about which aspects of your marketing strategy are generating the most leads.

Further, once you’ve discovered a lead or new customer, ensure that you maintain contact with the person or business. Letting leads and customers fall through the cracks will undermine your marketing efforts. If you haven’t already, explore (or upgrade) customer relationship management software to help you better track and analyze key data points.

In addition to generating leads, marketing can help improve brand awareness. Although an increase in brand awareness may not immediately translate to increased sales, it tends to do so over time. Identify ways to measure the impact of marketing efforts on your organization’s brand. Possibilities include customer surveys, website traffic data, and social media interaction metrics.

It Can Pay Off

Sometimes leaders look at marketing as a sunk cost. You know you need to allocate dollars to it, but the results may seem random and unpredictable. By refining your approach and tracking the right metrics, however, you can help ensure that your marketing strategy pays off. Contact us with questions.