“How Often Should You Review Your Marketing Strategy”

Written by Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

Like most plans you make for your business, nothing is like the reality. Once you have started implementing your marketing strategy and see how close your assumptions match the reality, you can start tweaking the plan to keep it fresh and reality based. There are many ways to test whether or not you need to review your strategy.

1.       Ask Your Customers.  You'll want to automatically survey new customers to find out how they found out about you so that you can evaluate whether or not they found you via current marketing plans or via some other way. If they give you a reason they found you that is contrary to how you thought they might find you, then it might be time to review your marketing strategy.

2.       At the End of the Marketing Cycle.  Some marketing strategies have a definite beginning and ending. For example, if you are running an email marketing campaign that runs for 30 days straight, then you need to review the strategy at various points throughout the plan and also at the end to ensure that you got the results that you thought you might.

3.       By the Numbers. Many business owners make it a habit to review their marketing strategy on a quarterly basis to match up the financials with the effort. How did that PPC campaign you ran last quarter stack up compared to the email marketing push that you started at the same time? Can you quantify your efforts?

4.       To Ensure That Your Strategy Is Unified.  If your overall strategy is to service six-figure business owners and above, then every single element of your marketing plan should match that goal. It is easy, without review, to get lost and off track. A good time to check up on the unification of your strategy compared to the steps you are taking to implement the plan is at least quarterly.

5.       To Know Your Return on Investment.  How much is it costing you to acquire a customer and what is the lifetime revenue potential from each customer? Are your plans reflecting the financial truth? Is your marketing strategy directly influencing your ROI? If not, then you may need an entire overhaul of your marketing strategy.

6.       Your Educated Guess.  Sometimes, you just have to go with what you feel. If you feel as if your current strategy isn’t matching up to what you want for your business, then it’s time to review everything so that you can figure out where to make changes and where to implement new strategy.

7.       When You Develop a New Product or Service.  Each time that you develop a new product or service is a great time to revisit your marketing strategy so that you can incorporate plans for pushing out the new product and/or service. How you did things before might not work.

8.       Check the Numbers Weekly:  When checking in on the numbers on a regular basis such as weekly (or you could do it quarterly instead), at the same time you can understand how all your actions are affecting your marketing strategy and ultimately the bottom line.

The entire point of marketing is to tell your target market that you exist so they can choose your products or services. If you want to be good at getting the message out to the right people, you’ll need to evaluate on a regular basis how it is that you spread the word about your products and services.

Have a question or comment about this blog?  Please post below.  As a way of thanking my audience for participating I am doing a monthly give-a-way for all those who read my blog posts, sign up for my FREE Report or those who participate in any of my seminars.  One lucky winner will be picked on the last Friday of each month and announced here on my blog.

Remember all it takes is a plan and specific daily action steps to move you to your goals!

Here’s to your success!