Marketing takes time, you’ve heard it before.
So how do you tell if your marketing is working and just needs more time, or if you’re heading down a dead end?
Honestly? If you’re reading this blog, I get the feeling you’re already aware of the fact that marketing takes time to produce results. And you’ve probably got something in the works that isn’t producing quite what you thought. It’s natural to want to immediately cut it off and try something else, but you know that’s not always the best path forward.
Let’s dive into signs for when it’s time to truly let a marketing strategy go.
A Quick Caveat: If you haven’t read much of me, you might not know that I approach marketing in terms of exponential growth. This means you may not see much movement on the first few strategies, but that it will explode with growth as you add more components to your marketing plan. (read more about exponential marketing here)
1: Are you giving it the best shot?
The first thing to do is assess exactly how much effort you’re truly putting into the marketing strategy.
Look at the hard metrics you can legitimately measure to figure out exactly how much effort you are putting in vs how much you think you’re putting in.
For example:
If you’re working on your social media, look at exactly how many posts you’re making per week and per month. How consistent are they? I will never forget the time I got frustrated that I was getting no social media interaction and then discovered that it was because I wasn’t actually posting. It was one of the most awkward moments when I realized that I was the reason my marketing wasn’t working.
Obviously you’ll have to do a little research on each marketing tactic to determine what those hard metrics are. For your website/SEO it might be looking at the analytics to see how many edits were made in the month, how many blogs were put out, etc.
Regardless of what it is, take time to sit down, look at the numbers, and determine whether or not you’re giving it its best chance to be successful.
2: Are you evaluating and adjusting?
Most marketing techniques don’t work on the first iteration.
What do I mean? That you can’t expect a perfect performance right out of the gate. Performances and returns almost never work like that. Even in music, your first performance is always your worst. But you evaluate and adjust so that your next one is more successful.
In marketing, it means that you dive deeper than the surface numbers you looked at in the first question. You’ve looked at how many posts you’re making, now you look for the ones that get the most engagement and work on replicating whatever aspect of the post made it successful.
As you evaluate and adjust your marketing tactics, you’ll discover what works best and ultimately begin to see results (IF it’s the marketing avenue that is good for your business)
3: Is it all connected?
The most important aspect of your marketing is to have it all related.
Your marketing might be working great! It could be attracting a ton of leads, but if it’s not connected to something that will convert those leads then it’s not going to be effective. A great ad is only as good as its ability to connect its viewers to your product/service. Unless your prospects come away from the interaction knowing some way to connect with you, it’s nearly useless.
If you’re focusing on social media, make sure it’s connected back to your website and that people can find your social media from your website as well. If you have different tactics going in different places, make sure they are all connected by an identical brand so you’re easily recognizable on other platforms and through other media.
The best marketing is a black hole: it magnetically sucks people into your brand.
"But I’ve checked all this and it’s still not working!"
If you’re thinking that, then it might be time to ditch that marketing strategy and build out a new one.
Looking for a little more hands-on help with your marketing? Get connected to a powerful mastermind of like-minded business owners to build stronger marketing.