As business owners, wasted time (and money!) is not on our goal list for the new year. To ensure this doesn’t happen, our marketing plan needs an effective strategy, which can only be created after a thorough review of your previous year’s traffic drivers, social media growth, and sales trends. Once you have all your data in front of you, you’re prepared to evaluate your options for the year ahead. Below are 5 steps to help you review your own marketing plan, as well as questions that will help prompt positive action. Let’s dive in!
What are your traffic drivers?
What pieces of content drove the most traffic to your website or landing pages? Take note of whether this content was photos, flat-lays, short-form video, GIFs, or memes. Did you incorporate more Instagram or Facebook Stories? What about your marketing efforts from Pinterest? Was that a traffic driver to your site? Did you create a freebie or new lead magnet? How did those perform against your other traffic sources?
What does your social media engagement/growth look like?
While we’ve all noticed a steady decline in organic engagement on social media over the past few years, it’s still entirely possible to make an impact on your bottom line through social marketing efforts. All you need is the right strategy, and perhaps the Mix+Shine team behind you! A few analytics that are important to most brands, regardless of industry are: impressions, reach, and website (link in bio) clicks. This data will tell you how many people are seeing your content, how often, and if this content inspires them to take action (AKA click to your website).
Are you seeing any trends with sales?
Knowing how and when to market your products will not only distribute your marketing budget effectively, you’ll also have a higher conversion rate. To do this, you’ll need to take a closer look at your sales trends. Are you seeing higher sales at the end of Summer? Do you notice that customers buy two or three similar products together? Could you create a bundle to encourage more spending with your business?
What are you letting go of and/or adding to your marketing plan in the New Year?
Perhaps one aspect of your marketing plan went really well in the current year, but another didn’t. What changes will you be making in the new year to achieve your goals? Maybe this looks like adding more short-form video content to your social strategy, or allocating a bigger budget to paid marketing. Maybe you’ll be delegating more tasks to your team so you can focus on growing your business, or establishing a new approval process.
Don’t forget to update your benchmarks across the board!
After you’ve decided what you’re changing in your marketing mix for the new year, it’s important to update your benchmarks across the board. This will not only help keep you on track for measuring success, it will create accountability for all team members–– especially if these benchmarks are posted someplace visible in your office.
Cheers to a fantastic, successful year ahead! Have questions about working with the Mix+Shine team to uplevel your marketing efforts? Click HERE to schedule a Discovery Call.
