Marketing goals can be a little like opening holiday gifts: exciting at first, but after time, the novelty wears off. The beginning of a new year is a perfect time for small businesses to re-energize those goals, evaluating what marketing strategies performed better than others and what needs to be re-tooled.
Here is an integrated approach to build your marketing resolutions.
Take stock of 2016
If you wrote a marketing plan a year ago, there are numerous ways to measure its effectiveness. But don’t measure the numbers for the sake of numbers alone. You should look at how those numbers led to conversions of some sort. For example, if you ran a blog off your website, the analytics will show how much traffic was driven to your site with each post. The most important metric to look for is how many of those click-throughs led to leads. While there are a number of ways to track blog metrics, Google Analytics is free and still the most powerful tool, instantly showing you your strongest and weakest posts throughout the year. Use that information to build an editorial calendar of posts that you now know will generate more visitor traffic.
Likewise, most social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide their own analytics tools. Use those tools to see what content was most popular and plan to produce similar content this year.
Fine-tune your website to make it easier for customers
Take the time to re-evaluate your website’s content. Does it entice people to “find out more” and lead them to a call to action? Is your home page as clear and concise as possible? Ditch unnecessary words and trim your business’s mission statement to a phrase or short sentence. The reason is three-fold. Not only should it communicate what your business does and how you can benefit the consumer, it’s the smartest way to get search engines to pick up your most definable keywords. And, as you’ll see below, it fits into today’s mobile format.
Can people read your site on their mobile devices?
As the 2016 Mobile Marketing report shows, millions of consumers continue to bypass their desktop computers in favor of their smartphones, tablets and laptops to search the internet for goods and services.
So, check your website across a range of mobile devices to see how it holds up. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to navigate a website with a small screen and not being able to find what you want without constantly scrolling back and forth. It’s like trying to pick up a needle with oven mitts. Check with your website provider or designer to ensure your website is mobile-phone optimized.
And while you’re at it, make sure your contact info is prominently displayed on the home page and linked so that in one click, mobile users can get in touch in one seamless step.
What’s the trend for 2017?
Once you’ve identified the things that worked last year and made sure your website is up to date and mobile-friendly, map out your content marketing for 2017. Allocate your budget toward the subjects your audience finds the most interesting, whether it’s in the form of a webinar, a video, or in-person events. 2017 is the time to experiment with the form, while continuing to create the kind of visual and authentic content that best connects with your potential customers.
If your business needs help with content marketing or goals for 2017, we can help you apply a strategy that will work for your individual needs. Contact ClearBridge Branding to help you get started.