We’re already three full months into 2020. That means a few things, but for a lot of us, it means the first quarter is already over. Now is a great time to look at goals and consider what did (or did not) work for you. From budget to annual goals, it's crucial to evaluate where you are after Q1 and where you want to go from here. 

In order to see progress, you need to take a step back and look at all the pieces. Where have you succeeded thus far and where have you been stagnant?

evaluate goals and progress

First step: evaluate where you stand. It can be easy to sit down at the beginning of the year, lay out some goals, start to implement them, and then forget about them. But don’t leave them idle! Your marketing strategy needs to be something you consistently evaluate and check in on. 

A simple task that can make this process easier is jotting down what you hope to see happen as a result of your marketing tactics. You’ve already established goals, but as a bigger picture, how do you hope these goals benefit your business? From there it’s easier to evaluate whether or not your goals are met, and if they’re useful goals in the first place.

Now that Q1 has passed and you’re evaluating where things are at, consider looking at goals that haven’t been reached yet. You can revisit the goals you set last year or at the beginning of this year. You’ve only been through one fourth of the year, so don’t be hard on yourself about which goals you haven’t reached. 

You should be doing a critical check-in at this point. Look at the goals you set for the year and the steps and tactics that were put in place to reach them. Have these steps and tactics worked for you so far? By asking yourself this question, it will be easier to evaluate what is working and what isn’t working for you.

It’s important to revisit the other important aspects of your marketing strategy. Check-in to make sure changes are made and your strategy is adjusted where needed. Consider your objectives, demographics of your target audience, and marketing activities. It’s common for these to change throughout the year and you need to make changes accordingly. 

Your target audience might shift over time. People easily change hobbies, interests, jobs, friend groups, etc. So don’t assume that your audience is a static group of people. You need to constantly adjust your target audience and possibly your buyer persona. 

Along with adjusting your target audience comes the responsibility to change your marketing activities and tactics to fit the audience. Consider which social media platforms your audience will most likely be on, and look and where they’re engaging with your content - website, email marketing, paid ads, etc. - most often.

how to reboot

Now comes the critical action stage. Evaluating and revisiting goals are important steps, but if you want to see progress, you may need to reignite goals that have sat stagnant within the past couple of months.

One way to revitalize marketing efforts is to look at successful campaigns  There are ways you can take these campaigns and update or modify elements of them to be timely and relevant. Consider the current marketing world and atmosphere. You can add different aspects such as different media (gifs, videos, emojis) that make it more modern. Or, take a look at what your competitors are doing, or have done that you might not have thought of yet. 

Create a list of what helped convert your customers and some things that you could do better. If one-to-one sales calls were most successful, talk with your team to see how more of them can be made. If custom landing pages with trackable URLs are at the top of reports - start creating more of them. If you haven’t put a tool or tracking process in place for lead generation, now is a good time to start!

After you evaluate your goals and where you stand after Q1, you may find it’s time to adjust goals to fit your current situation. Sometimes the goals you set at the beginning of the year won’t apply to your business anymore. Changing and adapting your goals is a great way to stay on top of development. If your tactics aren’t working, try creating new SMART goals for the rest of the year, or adjust your goals accordingly. 

When taking a look at goals and strategy, don’t be afraid to ask for help! Outsourcing marketing tactics can be a great way to let the experts step in. In certain cases, your marketing strategy might need specific tools or expert tactics to help reach your goal. If you don’t have experience with certain marketing tools or tactics such as social media management, blog writing, or SEO improvement, it might be time to put new tools in your toolbox.

When trying to reboot your marketing strategy, sometimes the best option is to include new tactics. If you find current tactics just aren’t giving you the results you want, don’t hesitate to change things up and add new techniques. This can be a great way to add variety to your strategy and it can show you what else works. Some ideas of new tactics could be email marketing, add a new social media platform, or find new ways to improve your SEO ranking. Marketing success is all about finding the recipe of tactics that perform best for you.

The process of evaluation and adjustment can be a time-consuming task. It’s definitely something that is easier said than done. But if you put in the time to measure, report, and evaluate, it can pay off. Let the improvement and growth begin.