{"id":554,"date":"2018-12-04T16:08:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T16:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/?p=554"},"modified":"2018-12-05T15:51:48","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T15:51:48","slug":"make-a-list-check-it-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/make-a-list-check-it-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"Make a List. Check it Twice."},"content":{"rendered":"

Make a List.\u00a0 Check it Twice.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Your end of year marketing checklist.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s December and you\u2019re busy with your end of year planning, holiday staff parties and buttoning up your books.\u00a0 Figuring out who\u2019s been naughty.\u00a0 Who\u2019s been nice.\u00a0 But while you\u2019re scurrying around like the Grinch on Christmas morning, make sure you set aside a few hours to review your marketing for the past year.<\/p>\n

Pull out your 2018 marketing plan.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

A solid marketing plan will include your business goals, the items and actions needed to achieve your goals, a calendar and a budget.\u00a0 Review your 2018 plan.<\/p>\n

Did you cross off all the marketing initiatives on your list?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Did you stay within budget?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Did you achieve your goals, or at least make progress toward them?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Did you set new goals mid-year that should be included in next year\u2019s plan?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

No plan is perfect, and some initiatives will produce better results than others.\u00a0 Consider what you learned this year when you set your goals and create your plan for 2019.<\/p>\n

Set a baseline<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look at the data you\u2019ve collected throughout the year.\u00a0 Pull together your call tracking reports and see how many leads you received from your efforts.\u00a0 How many people opened your emails?\u00a0 How many calls did you get from that ductless promotion?\u00a0 Review the analytics on your website.\u00a0 Did you see an increase in your web visitors?\u00a0 Did those visits convert to phone calls?<\/p>\n

Set a baseline for yourself on all of your marketing initiatives and work towards improving upon your results.<\/p>\n

Check your co-op or accrual balance<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll say it again for the bazillionth time: it\u2019s not ideal to rush to use your co-op in December!!\u00a0 But if you\u2019re faced with a use-it-or-lose-it situation, you\u2019ve got no choice.\u00a0 Use it wisely on items that will bring you leads \u2013 like a new van wrap design, or lawn signs, or a new banner for a home show.\u00a0 Those are items that can be turned around quickly and will bring you leads all throughout the year, while supporting your company brand.\u00a0 Ordering pens and hats and stress balls with your logo on them isn\u2019t the best use of your co-op.<\/p>\n

Calculate your CPL (cost per lead)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cost per lead is important because it helps you to figure out how to increase your sales.\u00a0 Divide the total advertising dollars you spent on each marketing tool (postcards or newspaper ads or online marketing, etc.) by the number of leads that came in from that marketing tool.\u00a0\u00a0(Note: Call tracking phone numbers help you to track this accurately!)<\/em>\u00a0 The result is your cost per lead.<\/p>\n

Not sure how to calculate your CPL, learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Create a marketing plan for 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

You have a baseline, data, goals and a plan for increasing business.\u00a0 Now, pull it all together into your marketing plan for 2019.<\/p>\n

An actionable marketing plan, based on solid data and results, will provide you with quality leads and increased sales.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sure to make you jolly!<\/p>\n

Need help?\u00a0 We love to talk shop!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Make a List.\u00a0 Check it Twice. Your end of year marketing checklist. It\u2019s December and you\u2019re busy with your end of year planning, holiday staff parties and buttoning up your books.\u00a0 Figuring out who\u2019s been naughty.\u00a0 Who\u2019s been nice.\u00a0 But while you\u2019re scurrying around like the Grinch on Christmas morning, make sure you set aside a few hours to review your marketing for the past year. Pull out your 2018 marketing plan.\u00a0 A solid marketing plan will include your business goals, the items and actions needed to achieve your goals, a calendar and a budget.\u00a0 Review your 2018 plan. Did you cross off all the marketing initiatives on your list? Did you stay within budget? Did you achieve your goals, or at least make progress toward them? Did you set new goals mid-year that should be included in next year\u2019s plan? No plan is perfect, and some initiatives will produce better results than others.\u00a0 Consider what you learned this year when you set your goals and create your plan for 2019. Set a baseline Look at the data you\u2019ve collected throughout the year.\u00a0 Pull together your call tracking reports and see how many leads you received from your efforts.\u00a0 How…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,59],"tags":[83,80,84],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":587,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}