Here we are.
Another year has flown by. Most marketing departments have completed their work for the year. There are no pressing time constraints. The staff doesn’t have to get things out yesterday. Next year’s work has not begun.
Many are just kicking back and taking it easy. They are celebrating the year and just using this time to enjoy themselves. Work typically is far from their minds.
Then There are Those Few . . .
. . . You know . . . the truly successful ones. Those who always want to get better at what they do. They do take time to relax. However, they also see this slow time as the perfect opportunity to look at their marketing efforts during the year.
They set aside a certain amount of time and evaluate how their marketing performed during the year. Was it as successful as they desired? As they do this, they ask themselves questions like this:
- How many leads did we generate for the company this year?
- Where did those leads come from? Could we have gotten them more quickly and less expensively?
- How many of those leads did we turn into hot leads ready to buy? What marketing pieces were most successful in moving them to this point?
- How many of those hot leads ready to buy actually bought?
- What was the dollar amount of the sales that came from the hot leads we generated? What was the cost of our marketing efforts? What was the return on investment?
- What current pieces in our marketing were unsuccessful and need to be dropped? How much will we save here?
- What new pieces do we need to add next year? How many additional leads do we believe they’ll generate for the company? How many of those will we be able to turn into hot leads ready to buy?
By taking the time and planning now, these marketing departments are taking a step to improve their marketing efforts during the coming year.
One Big Question
Where are You?
Are you just going to kick back, relax and enjoy yourselves during the rest of this year? . . . Or . . . Are you going to take some time to look at what made your marketing successful in 2016 and what you can do to improve it in 2017?
The answer is yours.
