Take a moment to stop. Put your “to-do” list away. Forget about the next marketing meeting or sales presentation. Step back, put on your “objective” hat, and evaluate how your marketing efforts stack up when compared to these gritty quotes from the marketing trenches:
- “A year from now, you’ll wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb
- Do you have great aspirations for marketing your business … but they’re all on paper?
- If so, where did things stall, and why?
- What steps do you need to get past the inertia and make a start?
- “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” – Peter F. Drucker
- How well do you know your target market?
- How specifically targeted is your marketing?
- If you aren’t targeting your marketing, what needs to change to focus and sharpen your message?
- “Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing.” – Mike Volpe
- Do you fear a marketing failure? If so, why?
- What needs to change in your mindset, the expectations of others, or your corporate culture to make failure acceptable?
- What have you learned from past failures that has helped you succeed later on?
- “Make your marketing so useful people would pay you for it.” – Jay Baer
- How is your content relevant to your target market?
- If your content lacks relevancy, why is that the case?
- What do you need to do to maximize the value of your marketing content?
- “Marketing is really just about sharing your passion.” – Michael Hyatt
- Does your content communicate energy and passion to the consumer?
- If your content does not communicate energy and passion, where and why did it fail to do so?
- Who in your company is most passionate about your products and services? How can you leverage their passion in your marketing content?
- “If your content isn’t driving conversation, you’re doing it wrong.” – Dan Roth
- What is your social media strategy?
- Are you using social media to engage in conversation with consumers, or simply to shout your message at people?
- What needs to happen to truly engage in conversation with consumers through social media? (e.g., resources, budget, expertise)
- “You can’t expect to just write and have visitors come to you. That’s too passive.” – Anita Campbell
- Have you fallen into the trap of developing marketing content but not marketing that content?
- How are you driving traffic to your marketing content?
- What new tools or tactics could you use to increase distribution and readership of your marketing content?
- “Money coming in says I’ve made the right marketing decisions.” – Adam Osborne
- How are you measuring the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns?
- Are any marketing efforts/campaigns “sacred cows” that don’t deliver results but can’t be touched? If so, why is that the case? How can you change the status quo?
- Do you need better, more accurate metrics? If so, how can you implement them?
It’s time to go back to your “to-do” list and prepare for your next meeting. But one final question remains: Now that you’ve evaluated your marketing efforts, what changes do you need to make today to ensure your success tomorrow?
Author: Paula Marolewski