It’s always a little stressful when you’re not exactly sure how your marketing is going. Take a little time today to run through our sanity check list.


1. What are you really trying to achieve?

Revenue growth? Greater brand recognition? Increased market share?  A lot of people think of the purpose of marketing in fairly one dimensional terms, but are your activities focused on the specific results you’re looking for? There’s a generic idea of marketing and what it’s supposed to accomplish, but the truth is that your activities should be focused on a quite specific objective. What’s yours?

 

2. Do the skills you have match the needs you have?

You may have the job titles, but do you have the skills? Is your Sales Director a killer sales person, or a great Account Manager who rarely focuses on new sales, but just happens to have the word Sales in their title? Has this situation been propagated by day-to-day priorities? I.e. If you have urgent needs to be fulfilled with existing customers, it’s unlikely that the Sales Director has been able to focus on other things. The trouble is, you need new sales. If you don’t have the skills focused on the right things, how’s that going to happen?

 

3. Who’s really driving the marketing bus?

Don’t assume there’s anybody driving. The most common situation for a medium sized business is that there’s too big a gap between strategic decision makers on a business level (i.e. inside the boardroom) and those charged with implementing day to day activities (the Marketing Manager / Director.) You may find your Marketing Manager is too busy meeting an endless laundry list of needs from the business to align your activities with strategic priority. Come to their rescue and agree priorities with them.

 

4. Is there actually a marketing plan?

Come on. Out with it. is there an active marketing plan with deliverables, KPIs and a process for keeping on track? If there is – go to the top of the class – you are a rare and precious bird. If the truth is that you had a plan originally and it’s out there somewhere but you’re not entirely sure where, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s time to revisit it. Keep it simple. Keep it focused and above all – keep it active.

 

5. What’s it costing you to stay in your present condition?

You can’t know the cost of inadequate marketing. You don’t know how much it’s really cost you over the course of the last year. Who came to your website and saw it was out of date? Who noticed your social media had been neglected? Who might have engaged with you if they had received some fresh contact last month? Who took a pass on your services because they just weren’t blown away by your market presence?

Take some time to think about these things, put your foot on the ball and make a plan. January’s coming soon; it’s back to the start and back to business. It’s the perfect time to get your priorities aligned.

 


 

Richard Spragg is the CEO of Hirebrand. Follow him on Twitter at richard_spragg, or call the team on (713) 876 6045. 

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Richard Spragg is the CEO of Hirebrand, a global leader in marketing strategy for employers and staffing companies. Follow him on Twitter at richard_spragg, or call him on (713) 876 6045.