It’s that time again. The end of the financial year. For most of us that means making sure all our tax ducks are in a row and budgeting for the year to come. But the end of the financial year isn’t just about finance. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to give your marketing a heath check. This simple must-check list will help you figure out what you should be doing more of to boost those revenue figures next year!
How much did you spend on marketing?
You track all the money your business spends, don’t you? It’s important to know how much your overheads are but it’s critical to appreciate how much a customer costs. Look at how much you spent on offline advertising, online advertising, copywriting, website and graphic design along with things like networking events and training. Marketing also costs time. Your time. If you don’t track your time I recommend you do. For instance, do you know how long it takes you to write an email campaign? Or a new website page? Is it less than a copywriter would charge you? How much time do you spend on social media? Is it more time than it earns you?
Which marketing activities worked?
Jot down all the marketing you’ve done since last July. Did you run specific email campaigns? Have some ads going in a magazine or online? Did you sponsor or attend events? What kind of content did you produce, how long did it take and where did you publish it? Once you’ve got a good handle on your year of marketing, it’s time to objectively assess which activities worked. Did you get more sales? Enquiries? Referrals? Traffic? Comments? Shares? How you rate your marketing success will depend on your goals and objectives.
Which ones didn’t work?
Naturally, there are going to be marketing activities that bombed. If nothing you do ever bombs, you could be playing it too safe. When you know the marketing activities that didn’t do well, ask yourself why. Were they aimed at the wrong audience? Was the copy and design good enough to drive action? Was the timing right? There are lots of reasons why a campaign might fail but you shouldn’t throw the marketing baby out with the bath water!
Has your business changed?
Your business will evolve as it matures. Take time each year to note the developments you’ve made and what they mean for the year ahead. How has your brand developed? Have your goals changed? Have your processes and systems altered in response to situations you’ve faced? What do you need to do to make sure you continue to be a well-oiled business machine?
Have your customers changed?
Just as your business changes, so will your ideal customers. Most of us have a fairly general idea of the people we should target but that idea always becomes more concrete the longer a business operates. You might realise you’re better off targeting different people altogether, or you might have realised ‘your people’ are hanging out in different places. Spend some time thinking about who your most profitable clients are and develop strategies to get build relationships with them.
How did you go?
As you can probably see, measurement is the key to most of this analysis. When you measure the impact of your actions you can better decide if those actions are worth repeating. And that’s when you start tapping into the formula of marketing success.
