How to Rescue Your Marketing Strategy In 5 Steps

Here’s a story that might sound familiar. You work hard to build a marketing strategy aligned with your business goals. You begin executing on the strategy, but you aren’t seeing the results you want. However, you aren’t quite sure what to do differently or how to make a new plan. Before you know it, other responsibilities creep up and marketing is pushed to the back burner.

On top of this, you aren’t exactly sure how Google Ads work or how to develop an email nurturing program. Then a pandemic hits and all of a sudden it’s been five months since you’ve done any marketing and your lead generation programs are in serious need of revival.

We’ve certainly heard this story before and it led us to develop a quick hit, six-step rescue marketing strategy plan to help businesses bring their lead generation efforts back to life. We’ve broken it down into five steps:

• Analyze Data
• Uncover Insights
• Develop & Implement Recommendations
• Measure Results
• Develop Long-term Plan

&Marketing’s Marketing Strategy Rescue Plan Approach

We had the opportunity to test out our process on a client who needed to kickstart their lead generation efforts after being derailed by the pandemic chaos. Let’s break it down step by step.

Step 1: Analyze data

We went straight for the data first to understand what has been done, identify gaps, assess results from current activity, and identify what is driving those results. We utilized all data platforms the client could provide including:

• Google Analytics
• Google Ads
• Social Advertising
• Search Console
• CRM Data

Additionally, we interviewed current customers to get greater insight into the user experience. This helped frame how we looked at the data to develop actionable insights we could apply to marketing tactics.

Step 2: Uncover Insights

After mining and analyzing the data, we began forming insights to fuel our rescue testing efforts. This means we looked holistically at data to determine overall trends and potential areas of improvement.

In the example of this client, we identified they were not effectively utilizing their data to update their marketing channels or adhering to best practices in Google Ads or LinkedIn. They also weren’t consistently communicating with their prospects.

Step 3: Develop & Implement Recommendations

Using the data and insights gathered, we pulled together a recommended “testing plan.” In order to gain quick results and re-evaluate, we recommend developing a four to six week plan backed by data insights that’s designed to help meet a specific and agreed upon goal.

In this example, our goal was to generate leads. With this information in mind, we laid out a four-step plan to generate leads. Here’s what that looked like:

• Utilize LinkedIn Advertising. We decided to try LinkedIn ads because our client has some high quality downloadable pieces of content that weren’t being fully leveraged. Plus, their audience spends a good deal of time on LinkedIn. We built ads with a call to action to download the content.
• Launch Google Ads.The client had tried running paid search before on Google Ads, but due to competing priorities, they had trouble keeping up. Without a hands-on approach, it’s nearly impossible to adhere to best practices. Our team decided to revamp the account so the client’s site would be included in related search results.
• Test Email Marketing.Email marketing had been done in the past, but with little consistency. Initial results were encouraging, but follow-up was nonexistent. &Marketing put together an email marketing calendar to repurpose existing content. We also created a reporting structure for the sales team to follow up with anyone who engaged with the emails.
• Focus on Content. Though they already had a strong content library, their organic results have been lacking. &Marketing put together a data-backed content calendar to hone in on terms and topics we know their target audience is searching for on Google.

Step 4: Measure ResultsAs with all things marketing (and business), what matters most are the results. Developing ways to measure the tactics against your goal makes it possible to know how things are performing. If you aren’t tracking toward your goal, don’t panic. That simply means you need to try something new. This is why we measure–so we know what works and what doesn’t. The key is testing it for a bit before deciding to invest a great deal of time and money. That way, when you do invest, you will know you aren’t just shooting in the dark.

For this project it was all about lead generation, so our metrics were pretty standard:

• Number of leads broken down by source
• Cost per lead broken down by source
• Meetings booked
• Sales closed

Step 5: Create a Long-term Action Plan

After running the tests and analyzing the metrics in relation to the goals, we had a much better understanding of what performed well and what didn’t, what can be optimized, and what should be scrapped or added. Then we developed an action plan based on the results to best fit the client’s overall business goals.

The Results of Our Marketing Strategy Rescue Plan

In this case we discovered that while LinkedIn was producing leads, data showed the best leads were attributed to the email lead nurturing campaigns. So our recommended plan of action was to focus efforts on email marketing and stop investing in digital ads. This empowered the client to take back the reins on their marketing with an increased confidence that they are using their precious time wisely.

Rescue projects like the one above present opportunities to reset, revise, or restart marketing efforts with the confidence of knowing you are investing your resources wisely to achieve overall business goals. Need help rescuing your marketing for 2021? Contact us and we’ll be happy to put together a rescue project for you to get your marketing back on track.

About the Authors:

Ann Ehinger – Marketing Manager Ann Ehinger serves as the link between clients and creative to drive projects that deliver results. With over a decade of experience working in the nonprofit, technology, and agency space, Ann is adept at managing a project from idea to completion while navigating all the ups and downs that pop up in between.

Paul Ferguson – As a Marketing Director at &Marketing, Paul Ferguson uses his 16 years of B2B marketing experience to help clients develop fully integrated marketing solutions that make impressions and drive results. Whether it be design-oriented campaigns or digital market execution, Paul skillfully creates strategies backed by data, to effectively reach client’s desired audiences. Paul graduated from La Salle University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a double minor in Marketing and Business Administration. Visit Paul’s LinkedIn.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.