We can all picture it. New Years Resolutions are stuck to that refrigerator, paired with that picture of 20-year-old you and the waistline you’re wanting back, held up by a motivational magnet. Oh joy. Happy New Year?

How are you doing with your resolutions? Are you are swallowed up in piles of fitness magazines and healthy grocery lists? We have a different diet for you to consider adding to your to-do’s: The Marketing Diet.

The Marketing Diet is less a diet and more like a lifestyle change. The Marketing Diet is about unpacking and reevaluating. Based on specific phases and, similar to regular diets -ahem- ‘lifestyle change’, big results don’t come overnight.

Phase One – Your Before Picture. The starting place of the Marketing Diet is just that – identifying where your business is now. Your “before” picture, persay. Then you need to figure out what is working vs. not working and have to ask questions like:

Let’s face it, you’re marketing yourself whether you’re trying to or not. Now is the time to strengthen that direct line to your target audience and make those first impressions count.

Phase Two – Set your Routine. Once you know where you are, you head into phase two of the Marketing Diet to plan a routine filled with good practices that will contribute to a long-term goal and strategy. You may have some really great habits already in place – don’t forget about those. You may have a great online presence, a solid foundation for your brand, and that is something to build on. The goal is not to simply start from the beginning, but to leverage that which will help you ultimately master the Marketing Diet. As you set your routine, make sure that you are considering both short term and long term goals and strategies, and know exactly where you want your company to go.

One major component of a great marketing diet routine is keeping tabs on you “calories”. Figure out how you are going to measure your success. For example, using Google Analytics to understand the traffic to your website, analytics associated with your social media efforts, and keeping a close watch over what happens to your sales as you launch new initiatives helps you identify that which is beneficial and that which is dead weight. It’s important to measure your results. Good analytics keep tabs on even the smallest details which play a big role in big changes.

Phase Three – Accountability. What good is creating a strong strategy with achievable goals if you don’t stick to it? Lifestyle change is easier when it’s a collaborative initiative – get your whole team in on this. Working together to brainstorm, engage, produce and measure your new marketing campaign will help to reinforce the effectiveness. Don’t forget – this means high quality, branded actions, not just whatever comes to mind. Having a team to depend on and grow with will help lead to a stronger marketing presence.

The mission is not to master marketing on all fronts, but to make your mark on it and make a name for yourself. There’s a lot of fish in the sea and a lot of companies pushing information out to consumers, so you have to ask yourself,  “why will they choose us?”. Make sure your marketing strategy is as strong as you think it is by paying close attention to the tactics (daily habits and routines) that you have put in place so that ‘after’ picture is impactful and motivation to keep professing. You Marketing Diet won’t work unless you do.

Have any great tips + tricks for your 2015 Marketing Diet? We want to hear about them!

Best,

RockPaperScissors

Categories: Marketing