3 Easy Ways to Know If Your Marketing Plan is Working

and What To Do If It’s Not

3 Easy Ways to Know If Your Marketing Plan is Working

 
1. You’re not consistently adding new leads to the top of your sales funnel.
New leads are the lifeblood of your business. If you’re not creating content and campaigns that engage your target market and move them down your sales funnel- closer to a buying decision, it’s time to reexamine your strategy.

2. Your List Growth is Flat.  
When your marketing strategy is working, you should see an increase in the number of fans, followers, and subscribers. A lack of growth or a marked decrease in your audience is a clear sign your marketing message is no longer relevant.

3. Financial Metrics and KPI’s Are Below Industry Standards.
If your performance metrics like cost per follower, cost per lead, or your sales funnel analytics are constantly below your industry’s standard, you’re probably headed down the wrong strategic tunnel.

If you determine you’re stuck in the wrong marketing tunnel, your next step is to look at foundational marketing strategies. Take inventory of which of the following ones you are implementing, how they’re performing, and which ones offer you the best opportunities for growth. 

Here Are Our 7 Favorite Strategies To Add To Your Marketing Plan:

1) Customer Avatar + Unique Selling Proposition  

Want to market your product or service profitably? The first thing you must do is get clear on who your ideal customer is, where they hang out online, and what their challenges and pain points are.

You do this by creating a customer avatar (also know as a buyer persona.). A fictional persona that represents your ideal prospect's demographics, needs, desire, and challenges. By the time you complete it, you will better understand the motivating beliefs, fears, and desires that fuel your customer's buying decisions.

Having a clear customer avatar or persona impacts virtually all aspects of your marketing including:

• •  Copywriting - What kind of jargon does your avatar use? How can you describe your offer in a way that compels your avatar to buy?
• •  Content Marketing – What kind of content will you create? Blog posts?, Videos?, Podcasts?, Which of these types of content does your audience typically consume? Which will have the best chance of attracting and converting your prospects?
• •  Paid Advertising - Where is your audience congregating online? Do these platforms sell traffic and what kind of targeting options should you use?
• •  Email Marketing - By segmenting your audience, you can create email marketing campaigns that are relevant to their needs and desires.

If you want to stand apart from your competition, make sure you have an airtight unique selling proposition. (USP) A true USP will answer the question of “why should a prospect buy from you as opposed to everyone else?” Your answer needs to be specific, unique, and in terms of the desired end result for your customer avatar.

Having a stellar USP will empower you in negotiations, transactions, and allow you to demand higher prices.

2) Search Engine Optimization +  User Experience
 


SEO's dead right?
Not so fast Trigger! SEO leads still have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate, according to Search Engine Journal.  

Want to increase your conversions? Make sure that once your visitors arrive, your site is optimized for their experience. Just as small hinges can swing big doors, small changes to your website can double or triple your conversions.


3) Content Creation and Distribution 




Simply having a website doesn’t distinguish you from your competition.


But your content strategy can. 


Blogging allows you to create a dialog between you and your prospects and clients. It’s a constant reminder that you’re a knowledgeable expert and creates more touch-points for you and your brand.

The good news? Studies show that companies that post on their blog even once a month get 55% more leads than those that don't. As a bonus, created content can be repurposed across social channels and email campaigns creating more touchpoint for your prospects and customers.


4) Email Marketing 


Email marketing drives more conversions and generates the highest return of all marketing channels -4400% ROI and $44 for every $1 spent. According to Monetate, 4.24% of visitors from email marketing buy something as compared to 2.49% of visitors from search engines and 0.59% from social media.


5) Social Media Marketing
 



Social media marketing gives you increased brand recognition with your prospects and customers, improved brand loyalty, and more opportunities to convert.

The sooner you start implementing a social strategy, the sooner you will see results.  


6) Advertising

 
According to Hubspot, 63% of company’s surveyed said that there #1 marketing challenge was generating traffic and leads. The fastest way to get more traffic is through PPC (Pay Per Click) and Social Media  Advertising, including Google, Facebook, and YouTube.
 As organic reach continues to drop across social platforms, this will become a key growth strategy in 2018.

7) Tracking
 & Measuring



There’s an old saying,“ What gets measured tends to improve” Marketing plans and systems need to be constantly measured to give you a trackable, provable ROI. If you are on top of your metrics, you’ll know when you’re going down the wrong marketing tunnel sooner and be able to get back on track faster.

Conclusion

If you’re not getting the results you need from your marketing plan to actually move the needle in your business, I believe that using this post like a checklist will really help.

Marketing plans do work. But you do need to constantly check in to make sure you re on the right track to your goals. Trust the data more than your opinions and you will stay out of the wrong marketing tunnel.

Want to create an airtight Unique Selling Proposition in less than 1 hour? Download our 6 step checklist to Creating Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition In an Hour or Less.

Create Your Unique Selling Proposition in Less than an Hour 

Posted by Taylor on January 2nd