1. Define Your Goals
Setting goals can be tricky, especially if you’re not sure where to focus your attention. A good place to start is to do a quick SWOT Analysis or similar assessment. This will allow you to identify potential opportunities within your local market and industry. Once you’ve determined your areas of focus, it’s time to set your goals! Don’t waste your time with vague goals – be SMART.
A SMART goal not only clearly defines what you are trying to accomplish, it should also give you a clear idea of how to reach it as well.
Here’s how to create a smart goal:
Broad Goal: We want more conversions from our website.
Specific – We will grow our conversions by 20%.
Measurable – We will use Google Ads and their analytics platform to track our progress.
Achievable – We have a reasonable marketing budget and can dedicate money toward ad content and media spend.
Relevant – Gaining more conversions will generate more revenue and allow our business to grow (maybe business growth is a long term goal – bonus!).
Timely – We will reach this goal by January 1st, 2026.
SMART Goal: We want to increase our website conversions 20% using Google Ads by January 1st, 2026.
Now you have a goal, and you know the basic steps to accomplish it. Time to get started!
2. Analyze
How much data have you collected on your marketing efforts? In today’s digital world not only can you measure touch points in the sales process more effectively, you can tailor your marketing right down to a specific customer group (or even customer). This allows you to manage your budget more effectively, give you tangible measurements, and adjust where marketing efforts are not working. If you’re still guessing if your marketing is working, it’s time for a change!
3. Revisit Your Strategy
When was the last time you updated your brand strategy? It’s one of those things many businesses set and don’t really think about as they become consumed with daily operations. Adjusting your brand strategy is not as daunting as it seems, and there are a couple of great indicators when it may be time to do so:
Are you offering something different? Has your audience changed? Is your positioning different?
If any of these are the case, it might be time for an update. It might be as simple as shifting some of your messaging, or more complex like building an audience on a new social platform. You don’t need to (and shouldn’t) do a massive brand overhaul, but tweaking your brand on a regular basis to stay true to your core values can keep your business relevant even as your industry changes.
4. Logo Update
Once you’ve determined the changes you need to make in your branding strategy, it may be time for a logo update! This doesn’t mean you need a completely new logo design or even a radical change, it might be as simple as altering the shape, or changing the font slightly to keep it modern. In this example you’ll notice that there were a few well known logos that got a makeover back in 2018, and most of them were simply altering the font, use of capitals vs. lowercase letters, or getting rid of outdated effects (see you never drop shadow!). Remember, your logo is a large part of your brand identity, and even the most timeless of logos sometimes need a little face lift to continue to represent your brand as it continues to grow.
5. Refresh Your Website
The final, and arguably the most important element of your strategy in this digital world is your website. Does your content align with your brand strategy, identity and objectives? Is your site mobile responsive? Over 50% of mobile users globally access the internet via phone. That means if your website is not responsive (able to scale to the size of the screen you’re using), your business could be missing out on connecting with a huge pool of potential consumers. Having an up-to-date website is also important if you’re planning on investing in digital strategies such as Google ads, Facebook ads or remarketing, which directs potential customers back to your site – you don’t want them to be turned off by a website that doesn’t work, or looks like it’s from 2010!
If you’ve reached the end of this blog and are feeling overwhelmed, don’t be! You are an expert in your industry, you don’t need to be one in ours too! Get in touch with us to see how we can help you refresh your business!
