Did you keep your marketing resolutions?

So…. How’s it going?     With your marketing new year’s resolutions, I mean.  July 1 is half way through the year (hard as it is to believe!) so now is a great time to evaluate your plan and progress to date because there is still time to course-correct and achieve your goals before year-end.  Let’s reflect back on the process:

#1: What do you want to achieve?

Begin with the end in mind I wrote in my second-ever blog post way back in 2013.  It’s still true today.  If things have gotten off track, perhaps it’s time to evaluate whether your goal was a bit too ambitious.  It can be better to recalibrate and achieve a lesser goal than to give up later in the year as the original goal is clearly going to be out of reach.  Conversely, if you set a low-ball goal, it may be time to ramp-up your effort and get going!

#2: How much time you can commit to marketing?

I said before that 2-3 hours per week is necessary in order to accomplish anything meaningful.  With everyone’s varying vacation travel, I find July and August can be a nice time of year to focus on some self-directed work.  As a bonus, you’ll also be developing a good habit that can be continued through the fall.

#3: What activities will lead to your highest probability of success?

Networking in the summer tends to be more one-on-one as the Chambers and other groups ramp down their event calendars.  Make a list of the clients, referral sources and other service providers that serve your clients and start sending invites to meet for (iced) coffee.  It’s OK if the date you pick ends up being seven weeks away, the time will pass!

If you want to do more writing but haven’t gotten started because you don’t know what to write about, considering asking your marketing department.  Your website traffic may offer the answer in the form of popular keywords used to find your site.

#4: What support do you need?

If you’ve been trying to go it alone, but it’s not happening, it may be time for some external accountability from your marketing team, a fellow partner, or a business coach.

If you’re doing the work but the results are coming, then this summer can be a good time to reevaluate your expectations.  Sometimes marketing takes longer than you’d like it to – and sometimes the activity you’ve chosen isn’t actually aligned with the outcome you’ve selected.   Either way, your marketing team ought to be able to offer some council in this area.

There are six months ahead of us in 2019; plenty of time to reflect, adjust, recommit, and get going with marketing!  Let’s end the DECADE strong!   If I can help you, please reach out!