Your business cannot succeed if you do not effectively market it. And your marketing techniques will not be continuously successful if you do not critique them regularly. It is important to check up on the success of your marketing efforts periodically in order to keep them fresh and operating at peak efficiency.
So how do you critique yourself in terms of your marketing efforts? Well, you just have to ask yourself the right questions. Here they are:
1. Have you tried anything new in your marketing techniques since your last check up? If so, are those new techniques working? What about them is effective? What has not worked? If you are not trying anything new, why not? Is your old technique still sufficient? Or are you just not trying hard enough?
2. Have you effective promoted your brand through your marketing strategy? Have you clearly defined what message you are trying to convey to your customers? Are you getting that message out effectively? Have you put that message to use on your color brochures and in your poster printing? What can you do to better convey that message?
3. Have you brought in new customers since your last check up? If so, is it because of your marketing strategy or was it dumb luck? What can you do to bring in more new customers? Is your marketing material effectively reaching new customers?
4. Have you retained your existing customers since your last check up? Have you lost any customers? If so, why? Was your marketing strategy not enough to convince them to stay? How can you better retain your current customer base? Would a color brochure designed specifically for them do the job? How about some other marketing strategy?
5. Have you made any collaborating partnerships with other companies since your last check up? If not, why? Are you neglecting this aspect of marketing? If you have made new partnerships, how did you do it? How can you make more? How can you improve the partnerships you have made to benefit both parties?
6. Are you truly in touch with your customers? Do you know what your customers think about your marketing strategies? Do you know what works and what doesn’t? Have you asked them? Can you create a survey and ask your current customers to take it?
7. Do you have specific goals to achieve before your next check up? Without goals, you can achieve nothing. Do you know what you want to accomplish in the next few months? How can you tailor your marketing strategy to meet those goals? Can you keep some aspects of your current strategy? Or should you scrap it completely and start from scratch?
These seven questions (and their sub-questions) will get you on the path to giving your marketing technique a comprehensive check up. But remember to go over these questions regularly – at least once a quarter.
