Does your marketing smell? Find out

Answer these five questions and find out just how bad you smell.

Not having a strategy is like getting dressed in the dark

If you don’t have a marketing strategy in place you don’t know what you’re doing and you WON’T reach your potential growth. Part of basic business hygiene is to have measurable goals and a strategy in place to reach, and perhaps even exceed those goals.

Your strategy provides an overview of your market position in relation to your competitors, how to work with your strengths and the tactics you need to employ to dominate your target market. A great strategy will enable you to evaluate the returns on various activities, and best utilise the limited time, budget and resources you have at your disposal.

Your daily routine should keep you fresh  

Like most, every morning I check my emails, check my socials, and check my task list for the day. This routine doesn’t keep me fresh and relevant in my craft. I subscribe to newsletters, I attend industry expos and I keep reading about new marketing technologies.

To stay fresh in marketing you need to actively seek new knowledge and not just wait for a manager or organisation to send you on a professional development day. So often I see people put their own development aside, only to be working inefficiently and ineffectively with outdated processes and industry benchmarks. 

Wasting time will mean you’re constantly late 

Some activities in marketing are much more enjoyable than others, but spending too much time on these tasks will mean you lose focus on other important areas. Just like spending too much time applying blush will leave you looking like you’ve been hit by the sun fairy, too much time spent in unproductive meetings will leave you with a full calendar and little results to show for it.

In your marketing strategy, make sure you are mapping out where you will get the greatest return on your time investment. From here map out where your time is best spent, and stick to it.

Reporting on vanity metrics isn’t reporting

I was recently shown a report which had Google Analytics graphs and little substance, by someone raving on about how great it was to have this information. Information is great, but what you do with it is the important part and the right questions definitely weren’t being asked or answered with this data.

Reports need to be about minimising risks to the company through transparency, inviting feedback from knowledgeable colleagues and ensuring that milestones towards business goals are being met.

Is it time to clean-up your marketing act and set some ground rules?

Many companies overlook these building blocks of success falling into a messy reactive routine. If this is you, it is time to get back on track, have a shower and start using your time strategically. Not for the raw business results, but to keep your sanity through achieve timely and measurable results.

Or give me a call and I’ll do your strategy for you…. Either way, it’s time to clean up your act.