Congratulations! We’ve finally made it to spring. Time to pack up your parka and bust out the broom.
What is it about spring that inspires an urge to clean? Let’s put that natural instinct to great use – on your marketing efforts. Instead of grabbing a dust pan, round up your staff or marketing team and tackle these tasks:
1. Time For Brutal Honesty: Is what you are doing – with print and online – working? Is your branding message on-point and consistent? Do you update your materials and social channels regularly? How’s that blog going? Are you advertising in the right places? To the right people? In the right way? Is your packaging outdated and tired? If it’s working = keep doing it. If it isn’t = toss it out.
2. Take Out Your Trash: Time to get organized. Starting with your own space, clear off your desk, toss out all those sticky notes still on your monitor, clean up your contact lists, thin out files, and spend the necessary time to see your computer desktop again. Phew. Better already. Time to move onto the rest of your office or department. Go to your calendar right now and assign a day (or two!) for a company-wide “Spring Cleaning Day”. Have staff wear jeans and have fun. Maybe even make a camp-inspired job wheel to assign “chores” and have a picnic-style lunch. Once organized, make this an annual event. An organized team will be more efficient, productive and happy!
3. Walk Their Walk: Take the time to understand and deeply evaluate your customer’s journey. Know how, when, where and why your customers find you and where and how they engage. Utilize this information to develop a targeted plan to manage each critical touchpoint of their journey. Be sure to close any gaps you uncover in your lifecycle stages – those being AQUIRE, ONBOARD, ENGAGE, RETAIN. Then, up your efforts.
4. I {Heart} Data: And you should, too. Make the time to review the data you have been receiving or collecting and putting into a pile. Analyze it and then think about other data you should be collecting – either in addition to, or instead of, what is in front of you. Data is a gold mine just sitting there waiting for you to take advantage of its value. Use it. Make any needed adjustments or improvements based on what you discover. And, if you hate data {gasp!}, let me look it over and evaluate it for you. It’s what I do and it makes me happy. Once you harness its power, it will make you very, very happy, too.
5. Mobile Cannot Be Ignored: How many prospects view your website on a mobile device? How many of your email recipients open your emails on their phones? We can no longer ignore the fact that mobile is rapidly replacing desktop users. You need a responsive design plan today, not tomorrow. Today.
6. Socially Selective: Create a pro/con list for all social channels to help you narrow which channels your company should be engaged with. Think about what makes the most sense from your customers perspective. Where would they expect you to be? Choose one or two channels and focus your efforts there. You can always add more social channels later when you can manage it.
7. Check Yourself: Look at all of your platform profiles for correctness and update anything needed. Don’t forget to check Google+, online directories – such as Yelp, for example – and take any actions needed. Ask staff to do the same. Then, Google yourself and your company (or set up Google Alerts) to see what people are saying about you. If you find some favorable comments consider using them in your marketing materials and on your website. There is not much you can – or should – do about negative reviews except to respond appropriately and as quickly as possible.
8. Laser Focus: Establish {or re-establish} clear, measurable goals. Look ahead in addition to looking back. What changes do you foresee? What has changed? Or, what is on the cusp of changing? Stay focused and flexible. Consider having a quarterly staff meeting to reiterate your goals to ensure everyone is rowing in the same direction.
Do you have more ideas for getting it done this spring? Please leave a comment below. Meanwhile, if your marketing needs some sprucing up or you are seeking a marketing and creative partner to help boost your business, we hope you will drop us a line. We are always ready to roll up our sleeves and dig in.
It’s time to renew, refresh and reiterate those goals.
Happy Spring! Let’s get to it …
~Amy
