Five Signs Your Marketing Strategy Needs Reviewing

Marketing Strategy

I speak to a lot of business owners who are doing plenty of marketing. The harder question is whether all of that activity is actually working.

They are posting on LinkedIn. Sending emails. Updating their website. Maybe running some advertising too.

So when I ask, “How is your marketing actually working for you?”, there is often a pause.

Because being busy with marketing is not the same as having a marketing strategy that is working.

Here are five signs I would look out for.

1. You Are Doing Lots of Marketing, But You Are Not Sure What Is Working

You are posting regularly. You are sending newsletters. You are doing everything you are supposed to be doing.

But if someone asked you which activity is actually generating enquiries or customers, you would not be able to give them a clear answer.

That is a problem.

You do not necessarily need more marketing. You may need to understand what is already happening. If you do not know what is producing results, it is very difficult to know where to put your time and money.

2. Your Marketing Has Become a Collection of Disconnected Activities

Your website is doing one thing. Your LinkedIn content is saying something else. Your email marketing is focused on another message. And perhaps your advertising is targeting a completely different audience.

Each individual activity might be perfectly good, but if they are not working together, you are making your marketing much harder than it needs to be.

A strategy should connect the different pieces and give them a common direction.

3. You Are Trying to Talk to Everyone

This is one I see regularly. The business wants more customers, so the marketing starts trying to appeal to everybody.

The problem is that when you try to speak to everyone, your message often becomes less relevant to anyone.

Your best customers are usually telling you something about who you should be targeting, what problems you solve and why people choose you. Your marketing should reflect that.

Five signs worth checking

If you can tick two or more of these, it is usually the strategy that needs attention rather than another campaign.

4. You Are Still Doing What Worked a Year Ago

What worked for your business twelve months ago might not be what works today.

Your customers may have changed. Your services may have changed. Your competitors may have changed. And the way people find and evaluate businesses certainly has not stayed still, particularly with search and AI answer engines both moving quickly.

There is nothing wrong with continuing something that works. But there is a difference between doing something because it works and doing it because you have always done it.

Your marketing strategy should be reviewed as the business changes.

Being busy with marketing is not the same as having a marketing strategy that is working.Barbara Payne & Sarah Ford, Digital House

5. Nobody Is Looking at the Bigger Picture

This is probably the biggest warning sign.

• One person is managing social media
• Someone else is updating the website
• An agency is running advertising
• Someone is sending emails

Everyone is busy doing their part, but who is stepping back and looking at the whole picture?

Who is asking whether the marketing supports the business goals? Who is looking at what is working, what is not, where the opportunities are and what should happen next?

Without someone looking at the bigger picture, marketing can quickly become a collection of activities rather than a strategy.

So, Does Your Marketing Need a Review?

If you have recognised yourself in one or two of these, it does not necessarily mean your marketing is failing. It may simply mean the business has moved on, while the marketing has not quite caught up.

Sometimes the answer is not another campaign, another social media post or another marketing platform. Sometimes you need to stop, take a step back and look at the whole thing.

Is your marketing still aligned with where the business is going? And perhaps more importantly, is someone actually responsible for making sure it is?

That is one of the areas we help businesses with through our Outsourced Marketing Director service, bringing the different parts of marketing together, creating a clear strategy and making sure the marketing is working towards the wider business goals.

Frequently asked questions

How often should a marketing strategy be reviewed?

For most small and medium businesses, a proper review once or twice a year works well, with a lighter check each quarter. Review it sooner if your services, pricing, customers or competitors have changed.

What is the difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy?

The strategy sets out who you are targeting, what you are saying and why people should choose you. The plan is the activity that follows, the posts, campaigns, emails and pages. Activity without strategy is the problem described above.

What does an Outsourced Marketing Director actually do?

They take responsibility for the bigger picture. That means agreeing the strategy, coordinating whoever is doing the work, deciding what to stop and start, and reporting on what is producing results. You can read more on our marketing consultation and strategy page, or see examples of our work in the case studies.

We are a small team. Is a strategy really worth it?

Small teams usually benefit most, because there is less time and budget to waste. A clear strategy means the few hours a week you do spend on marketing are pointed in the same direction.