At the time of writing, the year is almost over, and even though a handful of companies started planning their new marketing strategies during Q2 or Q3, it's better late than never! Here are five marketing questions for your company to review for the new year:
1. Are We marketing to the right audience?
If you take anything away from this post, let this be it. It’s better to target the right people and delight them with your product than to force your product on someone who may not be the right fit for your offer. Have your content work smarter, not harder.
Happy customers help create a referral-based business by putting positive reviews out into the world. And who doesn't love free marketing?
👩💻 Action Item: Create a list of your best customers (not just who you think should want to buy your product) and create an ideal buyer persona based on their similar demographics. Now use this buyer persona to audit and perfect your marketing content and sales processes to better suit your ideal buyers.
2. Is Our website solving for what potential leads are searching for?
In an age where we as humans Google everything, your website should be able to answer the questions your customers are searching on Google through methods such as blogs, downloadable content offers, or FAQ webpages. In fact, the algorithm change, Google Helpful Update, aims to do just that. When you’re providing up-to-date and valuable insights on your website related to the products or services they're interested in, it creates a sense of trust and can eventually turn your website visitors into long-term customers.
👩💻 Action Item: Do an audit of your website content and ask yourself, “Does my website help convert leads into customers?”.
3. Does Our website reflect what Our sales team is saying?
It should come as no surprise that your marketing and sales teams should be aligned in your efforts. If your website says one thing, but your sales team is saying another, this will only confuse your potential customers and often turn them away. Your website and sales team should reflect the same mission statement, core values, current product promotions, and a transparent sales process.
If a lead goes to your website to give your company a final once-over before buying, everything should check out. If there are inconsistencies throughout the buyer's journey, it could cost you sales.
4. Are We paying attention to Our content performance Over Time?
Understanding your website visitors and how they engage with your content is equally as important as creating it. What social media posts have performed the best in terms of getting clicks through to the website? Which landing pages have the highest form submission rates? Which subject lines have the best email open rate? These are all important questions to ask yourself when creating new content. After all, web marketing aims to convert website visitors into customers. Otherwise, you're creating content just to create it.
👩💻 Not sure where to start? You can utilize some free and paid tools to find your rankings and you can utilize Google Analytics to see how people are engaging.
5. How's our Social Media Presence & Engagement Rate?
First things first, is your company maintaining an active presence on social media? Second, are you actually monitoring those platforms for engagement? Your company’s social presence should be up-to-date, engaging, and checked regularly. Many potential customers are turning to company profiles for more information before making a purchase decision. Users are looking for product information, an easy-to-find website link, and the ability to ask questions about your products and get real engagement back from you.
💡 Bonus tip: Learn How to Use Hashtags for Marketing on Social Media.
So, how did you do?
Did your company pass with flying marketing colors? Or do you need a few pointers on how to get back on track?
Written by Caty Zimmerman
As the Director of Client Services and Account Manager, Caty's ongoing goal is to define client delight at Tribute Media and help our clients become heroes in the eyes of their customers.
