If you’ve been in business for some time, it’s useful to know that the money you’re spending on advertising and promotion is still bringing the results you expected.
Markets evolve, customer preferences shift, and new competitors emerge, making your original marketing plan less effective than it once was. Regularly revisiting and refining your strategy keeps you aligned with current trends and ensures your efforts are focused on what truly drives value for your business.
If you’re uncertain whether your marketing spend is still contributing to your bottom line, our four-step checklist will help you identify opportunities for improvement and maximize your return on investment.
Identify your best customers today and determine whether this has changed over time. Your customer base may have shifted significantly, so it’s important to ensure your promotional messages and advertising align with the current market and target the customers you want to attract.
Additionally, review your customer profiles to confirm they are still accurate and assess whether your customers remain viable and profitable. Over time, long-standing customers can sometimes become less profitable, whether due to increasing demands for discounts or requiring more of your time than expected. Regularly evaluating these factors will help you focus on maintaining strong, mutually beneficial relationships.
Price is perhaps the biggest influence on how your customers perceive the value of your product or service. Make sure they still see your price as value for money and find out if there is an opportunity to increase prices where possible.
If you find that your price is being squeezed, there are ways to reduce costs yet maintain margin, including:
It’s a good idea to regularly review your pricing and overall strategy. Lowering your prices should only be considered as a last resort if absolutely necessary, while increasing them is a positive step you can take when you consistently enhance the value you deliver.
You should have a pretty good idea by now which promotional methods are working. Over time, some tactics may have become more effective, while others may have lost their impact. It’s important to regularly evaluate the performance of each promotional channel to make sure you’re investing your marketing budget wisely. This process involves identifying which strategies are driving customer engagement, conversions, and ultimately sales, and then allocating more resources to these high-performing tactics.
Conversely, it’s equally important to recognize underperforming methods and cut back or eliminate them to prevent wasted expenditure. A refined promotional strategy allows you to focus on what truly resonates with your audience and maximizes your return on investment.
Other promotional methods you can experiment with include:
There are still many businesses without websites that use word-of-mouth, networking and their reputation and credibility in their industry to generate sales. Other businesses are completely online and have sophisticated inbound and outbound marketing software to generate and nurture leads. There is no clear answer as to which is best. The only relevant point is to use whatever works for you.
Establishing a budget is essential for measuring your return on investment (ROI). One approach is to base your budget on a percentage of sales. For example, if the industry average for marketing is 8% of sales and your business generates $1 million annually, you could allocate $80,000 per year to marketing.
Alternatively, you can build your budget around specific goals. Add up the costs of the tactics you know will be effective, and use that total as your budget. Another option is to use your previous year’s spending as a baseline, adjusting it up or down based on upcoming opportunities.
Whatever method you choose, stick to your budget, track the results, and refine your approach by focusing on what works while eliminating what doesn’t. This approach means your marketing dollars are being spent wisely and effectively.
Make sure your competitive advantage is still relevant. Ask customers what they think and adjust accordingly so that what makes your business, products, or services attractive to buyers remains relevant. It’s a good idea to continually ask your customers why they buy from you. That way, you can focus on what buyers like most about your business, so you can invest your time and money there.