Spring cleaning may get all the attention, but fall’s a great time to take stock and decide whether you should be clearing things out, repairing what you’ve got, or adding new tools.
I’m not talking about what’s in your garage. I’m talking about what’s in your marketing, particularly things you might set and forget.
Audience Segmentation and Ideal Clients
Like, for instance, your audience segments. It’s easy to think “once my customer, always my customer” and focus on other areas of marketing. But changes in your product offerings, the competitive landscape, and the overall economy can mean the people you’ve always sold to may no longer find the same value they once did.
As importantly, you may be missing new opportunities from people and businesses your marketing isn’t connecting with. It pays to review your client mix and confirm that you’re reaching the right industries and roles, and that you’re addressing the most pressing pain points your prospects are facing.
What Sells, What Sells First
Speaking of pain points, as those change for your audience, so too will the mix of products and services you sell. You may even find that offerings that had worked as lead products in the past no longer do. Your marketing needs to reflect the entry points your prospects are most comfortable with.
Test lead magnets and lead products, and how you position them. You may find, for example, that an aspirational sale (“You could achieve X!”) might outsell a fear-based sale (“Take action to avoid missing out on Y!”), or vice versa.
Content Consumption
We’ve also found it worthwhile to check content consumption metrics data. Focusing in particular on any big changes in the topics, channels, or formats that are getting the most traction can be invaluable in understanding audience interests and motivation.
A mismatch between the content that is being consumed the most and the content you’ve promoted most consistently might point to a misalignment between your expectations and your audience’s interests, making this another important set of data points to review.
Customer Experience
Earlier, I mentioned the dangers of a “once my customer, always my customer” attitude. There’s another way to interpret that phrase, and it presents a danger, too: taking your existing clients for granted.
Be sure you have a firm grasp on whether your clients feel valued, how well they understand the range of ways they can help you, and whether they are satisfied with the work you’re doing.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that as long as they are still customers, they are still satisfied customers. Some dissatisfied customers stick around because they don’t want to prioritize the work of finding a replacement. You still have their business, but if they don’t feel they have your attention after the sale, their dissatisfaction will show up in falling referrals and repeat business.
Metrics for Metrics’ Sake
Metrics are part of each of the review areas mentioned above, but it’s also worthwhile to review the metrics themselves. Are they capturing the information you need to track your marketing’s effectiveness and your clients’ satisfaction?
If not, it’s time to review and adjust the data you’re capturing and the dashboards you’ve set up to help you interpret it. You may find there’s data you’re gathering that isn’t helpful. You should either stop gathering it (if doing so requires help from your prospects or clients) or at least remove it from your dashboard.
The Marketing Mindset
Above all else, I’ll suggest that you go into these exercises with the right mindset. It’s not productive to go in thinking about all the “mistakes” you’re going to find. Remember that the marketing decisions you’ve made were made with imperfect knowledge. Marketing decisions nearly always are.
So, the adjustments you’re making aren’t corrections. They’re changes based on the additional information you’ve gathered. Done thoughtfully, and your regular reviews and iteration will lead to continual improvements in your marketing.
Occasional large-scale changes can re-invigorate a marketing plan that’s beginning to falter and can provide a blast of inspiration that ripples out through the rest of your marketing. By the way, if you’re interested in hearing some of my podcast and radio appearances, you’ll find a few of them listed on the Andigo website.
Photo by PAN XIAOZHEN on Unsplash
