A good marketing campaign is much like a luxury car, it’s going to get you to where you’re going without too many hiccups, but you’re still going to want to have it serviced along the way to make sure it’s in optimal running condition. The smallest problem in a marketing campaign (or car) can snowball into an out of control event that results in a PR nightmare.
Think about how many companies have seen sales plummet or flat out drop off after a social media blunder. In order to prevent things like this from happening, or at least lower your risk to exposure, it’s a good idea to ask yourself a few questions about your marketing efforts each month, just to gauge where you’re at, how it’s going and most of all, if you can tweak some things to affect greater return.
How Consistent are My Results?
An undeniable sign of an excellent marketing strategy is consistency in results. When you post a blog, you can expect that it will go viral. When you run a PPC campaign, you know that it will raise your sales by X amount of dollars. Predictions that are reliable make for a smooth and efficient business model because no matter what bumps come along down the road, you know how to fix them and turn them around in your favor.
Take a look at your results and see if you’re getting the consistency you desire. Are some of your blogs outperforming others in terms of CTRs? Are some emails getting more opens and clicks than others? Are social media platforms outperforming your website?
Look at factors of influence in each case and adjust your marketing strategy going forward. For example, if you blogs that you post in the middle of the week garner more CTA follow-throughs, post more in the middle of the week. Then, see how that affects your consistency. If you are triggering a certain type of emotion or time frame for urgency in your emails that are getting more opens, try to use hone in on that emotion or urgency some more. The point is, find what is consistently good for you and then make that the norm, not the exception.
What is My Competition Doing?
Another great avenue to explore each month is keeping an eye on your competitors. Look at the content they are creating, the channels they are promoting on. Are their efforts paying off? Go so far as to get up to the point of purchase on their site. How does their sales and marketing funnel feel compared to yours? Do they follow up and try to get your sale?
It’s always a good thing to keep feelers out there so you know what you are doing that is the same, and what you are doing that is different. Differentiation is an important part of branding and marketing, but if you aren’t providing the basics that all of your competition is providing, you’re differentiating yourself in a poor manner. You’re showing that you don’t have a solid foundation built.
Never be afraid to copy a technique that is working, as the saying goes, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The thing to remember is that a great marketer won’t just copy the technique cut and dry, they will tweak it to make it their own. For example, Pepsi Cola realized that it was never going to cut into Coca-Cola’s long-standing trust built over years with the older generation, but they knew that generational marketing was the way to go. Rather than going after the customers that were loyal to Coca-Cola, Pepsi decided to go after the younger generation, the untapped market.