The last article I wrote got quite a few of you entrepreneurs out there buzzing. I received a slew of emails! (Thanks!) Of those emails, there were two questions that were the most asked:
(1) “I launched my marketing campaign months ago/ am involved in various marketing activities but did not set up a system for tracking tangible data prior to starting. What do I do to measure their performance now rather than waiting another three months to collect data?”
(2) “What types of things do I need to do to be able to collect data that I can review for marketing effectiveness?”
This week, we’re going to tackle the first question and in the article after that, I’ll have the answer to question two. Sound like a plan? Great. Here we go…
I have two main pieces of advice for those of you who have marketing activities in progress but no means to track their performance. Since you don’t have unbiased data to complete an objective analysis, you must settle for a subjective analysis of the information that you do have. “What information do I have?” you say. Data you’ve created, of course!
More specifically, you’ll have to use the objectives that you set prior to launching your marketing activities. If you did not set marketing objectives prior to implementing your marketing activities, write them now.
Caution: Write only three to four objectives you hope your marketing will achieve. Be specific. Normally, you should have specific objectives for each target audience. However, to simplify the process at this juncture, set objectives are appropriate for all of your target audiences.
To begin your assessment, you should make a list of your active marketing activities. Focus only on those activities that have been underway for at least three months. Since you will be assessing multiple activities using the same criteria (ie. your objectives), I suggest that you create a chart.
Input your current marketing activities, one below the other, down the far left column; list your marketing objective(s) across the top of the chart, one beside the other. Then, sit down and prepare to complete an objective assessment of their effectiveness. Next, ask yourself: “How well is X marketing activity meeting each marketing objective I set?” Write your thoughts in the appropriate box for each marketing activity and objective.
Once you’ve filled in the entire chart, go back and review your responses. Highlight the marketing activities that meet all of your marketing objectives. Circle the activities that currently meet at least ¾ of your objectives. Finally, mark a single red line through all other marketing activities remaining.
The activities that you highlighted are those that you should definitely continue with. Activities that are circled are “fence-line” activities; they have the potential to work well but need to be adjusted to truly benefit your business. The marketing activities through which you’ve drawn a line are marketing activities that you should discontinue.
That’s not to say they are not good marketing tactics but rather than they are not right for your business as they are currently planned / implemented and will need to be redesigned if you decide to use them again in the future.
Again, this will be a highly subjective assessment of the marketing activity’s performance effectiveness. Therefore, it’s not ideal; an objective assessment based on actual data is ideal. Still, a subjective assessment is better than no assessment at all. That leads me to my second suggestion for this group: Start tracking how each of the marketing activities you plan to keep perform…this week!
As always, if you have a marketing question that you would like me to answer, send me an email at AskTanisha@TheLoftyEntrepreneur.com or ask@madamenoire.com.
Tanisha Coffey is a professional writer and marketing consultant based in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. She provides her services through the strategic marketing consulting, professional copywriting and independent author services firm Scribe, Etc.
