Checklist: How Prepared is Your Biz for Online Marketing Success?

How Does Your Local Online Marketing Measure Up?

 TO PLAN OR NOT TO PLAN?

We often hear local businesses say they don't need to have a comprehensive marketing plan.

They're posting to social media and sending out emails.  They've got a website and a snappy logo and figure that ought to cover it.

They're partially right.  All of those things are important but the thing is, everything you do with your marketing is interdependent.

You can create a fantastic promotion but if you're sending people to a terrible website, it won't do you any good.  

Maybe you post to social media all the time but your posts don't resonate with your audience and no one seems to care.

When one area of your marketing isn't on track, it can be like pouring water into a leaky bucket.  You can put a lot of effort and resources into your marketing, but you'll never have anything to show for it.

5 KEY AREAS OF MARKETING

How do you know if you've got all the pieces in place to make your marketing work together?

There are five key areas to marketing that all local businesses need to be on top of to see success.

1. Vision & Customer - know the "why" for your business and who you're targeting
2. Be Everywhere - have a presence anywhere your customers are looking
3. Promos & Offers - create great promotions that your customers want to buy
4. Keep and Grow - retain your current customers and make sure they're referring new ones
5. Know What Works - measure your results, simplify, and make plans for growth

Are you on track in each of these five areas? 

Take a look at the checklist below and see how many of the boxes you can check off.

VISION & CUSTOMER

☐ I have a clear vision for my business
☐ I know my ideal customer, who they are, what they love, and what drives their decision making
☐ I know what my brand stands for and how I want the community to view it
☐ I've got a brand book or guidelines for consistent brand representation

BE EVERYWHERE 

☐ My website is easy to navigate and mobile-optimized
☐ I know what social media platforms my audience uses
☐ I maintain an active presence on the social media that's important to my audience
☐ I keep tabs on my SEO and performance in search engine results
☐ I have a Google My Business profile that's complete and up to date
☐ My business is accurately represented on appropriate 3^rd Party websites in my community
☐ I have positive ratings and reviews on sites like Google and Facebook and a plan in place to manage them
☐ I'm building an email list

PROMOS & OFFERS

☐ I know how to create successful promotions to bring new customers to my business
☐ I understand which strategies to use for spreading the word about promotions
☐ I manage my marketing budget and understand how much I can allocate towards paid advertising

KEEP & GROW 

☐ I know how much a customer is worth to my business
☐ I have a strategy for encouraging existing customers to stick around/purchase more products or services
☐ I actively collect testimonials and use them in my marketing
☐ I have a referral program to encourage and reward customers for recommending my business

KNOW WHAT WORKS

☐ I have a marketing plan in place
☐ I know how to measure marketing success
☐ I track my marketing results
☐ I know what marketing initiatives are working and which aren't

HOW DO YOU COMPARE?
 
Well, how does your business stack up?  Are you doing well in some areas and not so much in others?  You're in good company.

From our recent survey of local businesses that market to parents, we know that a majority of respondents feel pretty good about their vision and customers. 

In fact, 98% feel somewhat or very confident in their knowledge and understanding of their ideal customer.  But only 17% feel very confident with their strategic planning and knowing what works. 

CREATING SUCCESS

Real success comes once all five areas of marketing begin to work together as part of a holistic strategy.  You won't get there overnight – and shouldn't feel like you have to! 

Focus on one thing at a time and before you know it, you'll achieve your goals and feel confident in your ability to grow your business.