Ring in the New Year With a Marketing Audit

The end or beginning of the calendar year is a great time to sit down and evaluate your marketing efforts. You should objectively consider which of your techniques are working and which are not. It is also important to identify areas where your marketing can be supplemented and strengthened in a cost-effective manner. We have some tips on what to look out for when you're examining your marketing plan.

Track Your Marketing Initiatives

One of the keys to a successful marketing evaluation is being able to identify which of your marketing efforts is the most successful. If you don’t have tracking methods in place, that is an excellent first step for beginning the New Year. Online advertising typically makes it easy to measure success.  With tools like Google Analytics, you can view where your website traffic is coming from. If you offer a coupon or discount across multiple media, consider including a code or differentiating the design of each coupon. This makes it easier to compare the reach of different techniques. Sometimes the simplest techniques are the most effective. With that in mind, ask your customers where they heard about you and what brings them in today. At restaurants, put out comment cards and include a section for the customer to designate if a specific ad or marketing message brought them in. Determining the success of signage can be a bit more difficult. One method to consider is estimating the traffic (foot and vehicular) that is reached by your sign every day and comparing that number to your general business. This is obviously imperfect but if you can identify outside traffic trends, those can be compared to fluctuations in business to see if your outdoor signage is actually converting passers-by into new customers.

Trim the Fat

It can make sense to take a loss on some marketing initiatives if you feel that they provide intangible benefits or have long-term value. Far more often though, you will need to eliminate elements of your marketing plan that are delivering suboptimal returns. It’s important to remember that this is not a failure. The most successful companies in the world are constantly reevaluating their efforts based on new or additional data. The ability to adapt and move forward is a hallmark of effective marketing.

Explore Different Solutions

It can be a mistake to think that you need to replace a digital element with another digital element. Experiment with shifting your resources towards new ideas or reinforcing the methods that have proven successful for your business. If, through your evaluation, you arrive at the conclusion that your marketing is largely ineffective right now, you should take a step back and consider how your marketing efforts are helping you reach your target demographic. This is also a good time to consider more universal marketing efforts that may improve your business.

Expand Your Signage

Frequent readers will know that we are fans of less traditional signage mediums. From vehicle wraps to floor mats, there are many potential signage opportunities that your business may be missing out on. Expanding your outdoor signage is a good way to reach potential customers who may not be exposed to your advertising otherwise. Expanding your indoor signage means you'll make the best possible impression on new customers whom you attract.