Mother Nature made her impact. This is a winter many of us won’t soon forget: record-breaking cold; record-breaking snow; roof collapses; the MBTA and commuter rail service in Boston struggling to operate. Roads in Southie changed to one-way streets due to the massive snow piles limiting the space for two cars to pass. Let’s face it, Mother Nature has been on a rampage.
This winter has had a broad effect on the economy. Your business may be down because of Mother Nature. Auto sales were way off in February. Restaurants have been hit hard due to so many weekend storms and cancelled reservations. I met with an insurance sales guy last week and he indicated business was down due to so many snow days that made booking and keeping appointments a challenge.
So what do you do as a business owner?
How can your business fight back?
Focus. Plan. Execute.
The recommendation is not new. It’s very simple. Simple to state, but not easy to do.
When we get beat up and business may be down, it may be tempting to get distracted with any new shiny object and get off track. Don’t! The key is to get back to basics. Focus on what’s most important for your business and put together a phased, logical plan and then execute. This is what any good marketing department or marketing agency should be doing for you. But, if you are not investing regularly in marketing and instead treating it as a project, that is where you need to make a change. You are wasting time and money with limited impact.
What should impact look like?
Monthly measurable results. Just like we measure wind chill and snowfall amounts, measure the impact of your marketing efforts. If you are not getting detailed, metric-laden marketing reports, you need to evaluate the value you are getting.
Some examples of the impact reported to For Marketing Matters clients in their February Impact reports (return on marketing investment):
Brand:
– New logo with tagline completed for a client; branding standards established; email signatures created for all employees
– New designs and messaging materials developed
Awareness:
– Online reputation management; response to positive and negative postings
– Social media posts, growth, reach
– # blogs written and exposure/reach achieved via these posts
Credibility:
– Customer success stories written and communicated to prospects/clients
– Speaking opportunities secured; award submissions
– # press releases distributed and coverage secured
Leads:
– Total Leads and leads by lead source as compared to target leads needed (client has monthly leads exceeding target so leads are not an issue; converting leads is the issue); # web leads including if prospect has budget approved with majority of leads having urgency of less than 30 days to act. (does your sales team get leads that give you this level of information?)
– New sales tool kit materials completed and available for sales team to use (including this month internal FAQs to help sales consistently and completely respond to questions; two new sets of PowerPoint slides addressing industry standard and opportunity for prospect to earn LEED credits)
– Ideal Target Profiles completed and distributed to sales to enhance targeting and shorten sales cycle
– Detailed website analysis; new web content developed and stats including SEO results and ratings
– Detailed email marketing results with lead reports for sales to act on
The above is an overview of the type of impact that we make in a month. Impact is client-specific, but normally falls into the above categories. Whatever your priorities, your marketing department or agency should be managing, measuring and reviewing IMPACT with you monthly. Not activity, but impact. It is important to make that distinction so you as CEO are not wow’d by activity. To quote, Joe Friday from Dragnet, “Just the facts ma’am. Just the facts.”
Marketing is an investment and like any investment you should expect a return. If you are looking to fight back and make an impact, start with assess what marketing is doing for you. If your business priorities involve increasing awareness, gaining credibility and building leads then the marketing function plays a critical role. If you are not seeing the monthly impact from your current marketing investment, take a good hard look at what you are doing and who is doing the work.
Don’t let Mother Nature be the only one making measurable impact.