This Week's Question: How long do you invest in a marketing tactic before you change or stop doing it?
Transcription:
How long should you invest in a marketing tactic before you change or just stop doing it?
I often hear, "Look, I tried SEO marketing it just didn't work." Or "I wasn't seeing results from my social media marketing so I just stopped using it." Then I find out that the person really only tried it for a month or two, and didn't see immediate results and just abandon it as a lost cause.
Marketing is kind of like the stock market, if you panic and sell everything the minute the market takes a dip you're going to lose out. Marketing often requires research, attention, and a patience to win.
If you want to learn more about what to do when a marketing tactic just isn't working and how to protect your investment, keep watching!
Hi, I'm Tom Malesic, founder and President, of EZMarketing, a marketing agency in Lancaster, PA, and you're watching Ask EZ. This is where small business owners go to get real answers to their marketing questions.
your marketing isn't working, why?
When your marketing isn't going right, there are four basic reasons why this might be happening.
- Number one reason is you're probably just not doing it right.
- Second, you might not be investing enough into the marketing tactic to really see the result.
- Third, you haven't been doing it long enough to see the results.
- And finally, the fourth reason is it's just not a good fit for your business.
#1: you're just not doing it right
Let's take a look at the first reason, you're just not doing it right. Marketing is a process and not an event, it's not a once and done occurrence, it takes testing and lots of experimentation to get it right. With digital marketing tactics, it's so easy to change what you're doing and make those adjustments. Always be tweaking and adjusting what you're doing along the way. Good marketing agencies are always testing to see what works best.
#2: Not investing enough
Second, you just aren't investing enough in marketing to actually see the results. Imagine it like your stock portfolio, it's doing really great and you're making a twenty-five percent return on your investment. Well, if you're only investing a hundred bucks you made $25 you probably don't care about that.
But if you had $100,000 invested in that, you just made $25,000 and that's a little more exciting. In the same way, even if your marketing is performing really well, you still might not be seeing significant results because you're just not investing enough.
#3: you haven't been doing it long enough
Number three, you just haven't been doing it long enough. Some marketing tactics really are short-term, you can expect to see results within days but generally, you want to run for two to three months. Examples of this will be PPC marketing, advertisement on social media marketing channels, maybe some kind of special promotions, or even a trade show.
Most marketing tactics really are long-term, and you're not going to start to see results for six months to a year. Examples of this are search engine optimization, branding, content marketing, PR, and even social media marketing.
The important thing is to recognize whether the tactic you're using is short-term or long-term.
#4: It's not a good fit for your business
Number four, it's just not a good fit for your business. Some tactics are a better fit for your business depending on your industry or target audience. For example, if you're trying to market to millennials, you're probably not going to use the newspaper.
how do you protect your investment?
So how do you ensure that you're making a wise investment in your marketing? You need to start with a marketing plan. An effective marketing plan will help you establish your goals and ensure that you're selecting the right tactics for your business.
It's really important that you track and measure your marketing. Without knowing what's working, we can't possibly make adjustments to get you better results.
your homework
Okay, here's your homework:
If you don't already have one I'd like you to put together a marketing plan for your business, and make sure that you're tracking and measuring all of the tactics.
And if you like this video don't forget to like and subscribe!
