With Spring finally in full motion, we literally all begin looking at our own with a bit more intensity backyards. Mine is just starting to turn green, which I find is the best time to track down weeds in my lawn that are easier to locate now versus later. Funny enough, this exact point of view is one you can use to “root out” issues at the cusp of Quarter 2.
At this time you should take a moment to clearly understand all that happened over the first quarter. Why you want to do it now is because you can make small changes using less resources and incurring less pain to get you back on track for the rest of the year. When you are halfway through the year or further, life becomes a rat race to hit your initial targets. Not a fun place to live.
Take this Quick Q2 Marketing Plan Pulse Check to see if you are where you need to be:
- Are the tasks I set out to do done?
- Did I hit my numbers?
- Are my customers happy?
- Do I feel confident in where we are headed?
- What did I learn so far?
Of course a pulse check is one thing, while a quarterly post-mortem is understandably more effective. This literally means you take a fine tooth comb through the quarter going into your marketing plan to evaluate all efforts from an execution, performance and pure results standpoint. There are specific evaluation strategies you can use for every element in your plan all the way out to your content. Take a look at this one A Simple Plan for Measuring the Marketing Effectiveness of Content.
You aren’t finished yet. True action matters at this point. Take your freshly minted knowledge and apply it intelligently to innovate the plan itself.
Marketing Trade Secret #1: Make large scale decisive changes on initiatives that are clearly failing. Don’t wast your time or budget here. Move on.
Marketing Trade Secret #2: Add a Learnings section directly to your marketing plan right away so you don’t loss track of those insights.
Don’t forget to consider adding in the right mix of tools to allow you further insight and support: Marketing Automation. Good or Evil?
Do a Marketing Plan Pulse Check monthly to really be on top of your game. Repeat this Post-Mortem Practice every quarter to ensure you end up on top at the close of the year. If you do, your successes will soar as you crush each quarter spurring on your confidence while building your credibility in parallel.
Yep, now that’s fun.
