Sometimes even the best-laid marketing plans fail. And that’s okay. What’s not okay, though, is doing nothing about it. In this article, we’re breaking down:

1. Why it’s important to revisit your marketing strategy

2. The reasons it might not be working

3. And how to bring it back to life

Got 3 minutes to dedicate to your brand? We’ve got alllll the insights waiting for you here 👇👇👇

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CHECK UP ON YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY?

Reevaluating marketing strategy isn’t important. It’s essential. Marketing isn’t something you can set and forget; it’s constantly shifting and evolving.

Of course, fluctuations are natural, and it’d be madness to completely change course every time a shift occurs. However, ignoring your data altogether is never going to solve any problems.

WHEN TO CHECK-UP

Depends on when you set your plan in motion. We know January tends to be a popular time for brands to reassess their goals for the year and implement new strategies. That being the case, at the very least, we recommend a 6-month in-depth check-in and potential adjustments.

Of course, it’s best to continually monitor the marketing you have in place. As we said before, fluctuations are normal. But if you’re seeing warning signs in your analytics that last longer than a month, it’s time to jump into action.  

5 SIGNS IT MIGHT NOT BE WORKING

1. YOU’RE GETTING A LOT OF QUESTIONS

Reason: Obviously, there’s a disconnect somewhere. Customer questions are normal –good even. But if you’re noticing more than usual or the same questions over and over, it’s time to do something about it. Try and locate where people are getting confused and address the pattern. If this happens during every new campaign, maybe the problem is internal communications. Make sure you’re team is all on board and on the same page moving forward. However, if the questions are only related to one area, there are many ways you can address it.

Solution: Most websites have a frequently asked questions section on their website. The only problem is that most people don’t put in the effort to check it. Some other ways to preemptively answer people’s questions is to put out social posts addressing the common question and then find ways to tweak your campaign messaging to ensure the confusion doesn’t persist.

We also highly recommend developing videos that answer questions before people have a chance to ask them, such as product videos or process walkthroughs. These tactics allow a customer to feel more comfortable before converting and save you and your team the hassle of answering the same questions repeatedly.  

2. NO ONE IS ENGAGING WITH YOUR CONTENT

Reason: There could be a lot of reasons people aren’t engaging with your marketing strategies. But one key question to ask yourself is, why should they? Is your content specifically designed to pull people in, grab people’s attention, and push them to act? You can look at the data and play around with new audiences all you want. But if you keep getting the same results, maybe it’s just the content itself.

Solutions: Add some spice to your content! Make people want to engage with it. Ask questions, develop polls, try new forms of content, be bold, and always keep switching things up. Find brands to use as benchmarks and see what they’re doing to get their audience to engage. The minute you get bored with your content, your audience will too. Don’t let that happen.

3. HIGH BOUNCE RATES

Reason: A bounce rate is a term that refers to a visitor’s duration of time spent on your site and, ultimately, their interest levels. A high bounce rate indicates that a user landed on your site and left right away. There could be two reasons for this. Either the link source (i.e., social post, email link, search results) is misleading, or the page itself is problematic.

Solutions: We first recommend taking a look at the page itself. How is it structured? How does it look? Has it been recently updated? Some things that repel visitors tend to be large chunks of text, an outdated page, broken links, or a maze of info. Ideally, your page will be accurate, not too copy-heavy, and will work as a sales funnel –getting straight to the point. If that’s not the case, maybe it’s time to reach out for some website help.

However, if your page is up to date and well organized, that’s when it’s time to look at the source. If you notice most of your audience is coming from a paid ad campaign, look to see if the messaging matches the page. If the CTA says one thing but then the page it leads to is entirely different, that will lead to confusion and a quick exit. Overall, Keep. It. Simple. If you make it too hard for your audience, they will simply give up and click on the next link. Don’t let that happen.

💡Not sure how to tell if your website needs some TLC? Check out this article: How Many of These Website Crimes Are You Guilty Of?

4. SALES HAVE PLATEAUED

Reason: Peaks and valleys in sales are totally natural. However, if you notice your progress has halted for an extended period of time, it’s not something you’ll want to ignore. To locate the source of the slowdown, you’ll want to turn to your data to find patterns. When does the plateau start, and is there anything it can be connected to? Maybe a competitor lowered their price, or you were testing a new audience, or there was a shift in the market.

Solution: For this one, you might have to get a bit creative to find the right solution. But what we can tell you is that developing a promotion or ad campaign centered around a deal or discount is a great way to add a spark of life into your sales. It may not be a permanent solution, but it will help get you out of that rut and allow you to determine what motivates your audience to better prepare for your next marketing campaign.

5. YOU’VE STOPPED GAINING FOLLOWERS

Reason: If you’ve noticed that you haven’t been gaining new followers or leads recently, maybe it’s time to expand your search. Simply posting or putting out marketing content will not immediately start increasing your followers. You have to bait new waters, so to speak.

Solutions: The best way to get new followers is to tap into existing communities or audiences that match your target. Where are your target followers interacting on social media? Wherever it is, be there. You could partner with another brand or influencer to promote each other or participate in related message boards or pages. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you’re adding value and not just promoting yourself for the sake of promotion. Think solutions, not solicitations.