6 Steps to Review Your Marketing Strategy for Better Results

December 7, 2022

Marketing, Trending

Every business does marketing.
Writing emails and captions for ads, drafting blogposts, planning campaigns, coming up with concepts and running ads are all part of it.

Depending on the size of your company, all these may be done by 1 person or split among members of your marketing team. But regardless of the size of the team, it is important to regularly review your marketing strategy and I’ll tell you why.

Reviewing your marketing strategy is like giving your company binoculars to see what’s helping it to grow and what holds it back. We’ll learn how to review your marketing strategy shortly but for now, consider this scenario below.

In 2022, say your brand spent more on email marketing than in 2021, but compared to the previous year, fewer people opened your emails.

This can be due to several factors. The email subject lines may be uninteresting or people might be getting the emails at inconvenient times. It is possible there is a problem with the email marketing platform or email addresses. But without reviewing your marketing strategy, you can’t untangle the activities you should modify from those you should reinforce.

It is very important for your business to find out what is working and what isn’t working in your marketing.

Even small businesses with small marketing teams, plans and budgets need to scrutinize their strategy. Growth does not happen by chance, it is a result of deliberate efforts put into the product, people and among other things, your marketing.

This means that your marketing strategy must work for your business to grow. A feeble strategy will capsize your business because you are losing capital, time and the return you should be getting on your marketing.

Before you inspect your marketing strategy, you should have an objective in mind. This can be to observe the marketing expenses vs actual results or clarify timelines, milestones and communication flow.

Let’s answer the question of frequency. “How often should a marketing strategy be evaluated? The answer depends on the dynamics of your business. Some companies critique their strategy every 2 to 3 years, others do it yearly while some others do it every six months.

As often as is necessary, feel free to alter your marketing strategy if you see indications that efficiency or ROI (Return on Investment) will drop. The key is to give enough time to execute the strategy and put checks and balances in place to make sure you stay on track.

Now, we’re getting into it! You’ll need your marketing strategy as well as a report of your analytics open for this next phase.

6 Steps To Successfully Review Your Marketing Plan

Separate Marketing Activities Into 3 Channels

In reviewing your marketing strategy, spread out your marketing activities across 3 channels. Each activity will either happen on a channel that you own, work or pay for and I’ll show you how.

Owned channels are the ones that you set up, use and maintain by yourself. They include your website, app and email platforms. On these platforms, you control what happens or not from the powerhouse of features that are usually available. So, if you have blog posts, opt-in forms and emails as part of your marketing strategy, you should list them under Owned.

Worked channels are where your social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter come in. We call them ‘Worked’ channels because your brand works to build trust and a good relationship with the followers before it can earn from them.

You can guess what Paid channels mean. They’re any platform where you pay to be in front of people. So, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, Google Ads and other Ads fall into this category.

It’s important to separate your paid channels from others because the metrics you should measure on each channel are different. Are you clear so far? Let’s talk about those metrics next.

Compare Goals for Each Channel vs Actual Performance

Let’s start with the first channel. If you have owned platforms like a website, then you should be on top of your Google Analytics. Look at your target goals for the period and identify the metrics that go hand in hand with them. Say you are tracking sales conversion, traffic volume to your sales pages can tell you if your marketing efforts are working or if something needs to change.

On your Worked channels or social media platforms, the most important metric to track is engagement. Are people engaging with your brand and your posts? Do you have comments and are they largely positive? The higher the engagement levels, the higher your chances of people patronising your brand in the long run.

Now, we’re on the last channel which is where you spend a lot of money running ads. What should the main metric of this channel be? It should be to get the highest return on investment for the lowest possible cost per result. So you should be looking for which platforms and Ads are giving you the lowest cost per click or cost per whatever your end goal is. Simply put, look at your Ad budget and the target results and then compare that to the actual cost at which you are getting the results.

After taking a close look at your numbers, you are ready for the next step.

Identify Factors That Strengthened or Weakened the Marketing Strategy

At this stage, you and your team can pinpoint whether your marketing strategy has been delivering results as expected or not. Don’t sweep anything under the carpet. If an ad set is not attracting the traffic you need or your engagement levels on Instagram have ceased to grow, get to the bottom of it with your team.

On the other hand, if some part of your strategy performs phenomenally, make sure you understand why so that you can replicate it in other areas where applicable.

There may be other factors affecting your marketing strategy. These can include your team’s workloads, budget, value offering and how much you understand your target audience. Identify the ones you can control, the ones that should be escalated and those completely outside of the company’s control. Then adjust your marketing strategy to accommodate these factors.

Set New Milestones to Achieve the New Target ROI

Once you’ve seen the real-time performance of your marketing strategy and outlined factors that affected it, it’s time to refine the plan of attack. Use your newfound understanding to review your goals and the metrics you are using to track them. Make sure your milestones are in tandem with the updated strategy.

Check the Clarity and Communication Flow of Your Marketing Strategy

Nothing kills strategy faster than poor communication and a lack of clarity. Ensure your marketing goals, metrics and milestones are clear so that anyone who picks up the strategy will grasp its full message. Ask your team if the goal, scope, timeline and audience for each channel are clear to them.

Ensure there is good communication flow within your team to make sure each person knows how and when his work hands off to the next person. That way, you will save time and increase productivity.

Set the Next Review Date

Well done! You’ve scrutinized your marketing strategy and refined it into a results-focused roadmap for your business. The last step is to set a date for the next marketing strategy review so that it doesn’t get buried beneath other tasks. Remember, business dynamics change, so re-evaluate your marketing strategy from time to time to ensure you put your best foot forward always.

If you need help reviewing or even creating your marketing strategy, reach out to us at Mauvelli. We do it for ourselves and our clients and are happy to help your business everywhere we can! Fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you shortly.