Originally posted at The Likeable Daily.
In the marketing field, there are some basic Dos and Don’ts. We’ve all heard the basics at conferences and in business books, but it can be hard to remember these key learnings when the time comes to put them into practice. For the sake of self-improvement, it’s important to stop and take a moment every so often to review these best practices and re-evaluate how you’re living up to them. Call it spring cleaning for marketers. Let’s take a quick look at the building blocks of our industry and see how we’re performing, shall we?
Acting Without a Strategy
One of the most egregious errors made by marketers today is rolling out a new social property, website, or other marketing material without a solid plan in place first. It’s important to keep up with your competition and strike back when they try to take the lead, but always evaluate whether it fits into your brand’s strategy. Will another social network help you accomplish your goals or will it spread your resources too thin? Think long and hard about this because it could make or break your business!
Measurement, Measurement, Measurement
There is no success without measurement. What does success look like for you? Take a look at what your competitors are doing, as well as your own past performance, and set benchmarks and Key Performance Indicators (affectionately known as KPIs) so that you have a clearly defined plan for success. Go back to the strategy mentioned above and make sure these goals are attainable. Then plan how you think you can reach those numbers. Move forward and make it happen! Once you’re done, measure again. Compare your results with your plan and try to gather insights into why you met, missed, or exceeded expectations, and use that knowledge to improve your planning going forward. Measurement is a never-ending cycle!
Words Matter!
Don’t post on social networks if you aren’t going to take the time to proofread everything. It sounds ridiculously simplistic, but it’s actually a growing issue. Far too many brands think they can hire a college intern to create their content between classes, tweak it to make sure it’s on-brand, and then post. That’s fine, as long as you don’t care about how people perceive your brand. If that’s the case, have fun! But if you do care, please ask for writing samples before hiring someone to write your content, and ensure that there is an editing process in place to prevent careless errors that tarnish your brand in the eyes of intelligent consumers. Words matter, so use them correctly!
