Marketing might be the last thing you want to do every day, but let’s face it—it’s one of the most important aspects of your small business. Because marketing is how you build your brand. It’s how you connect with new customers. And it’s definitely how you convince people to buy your sh*t. (Which we know is the best sh*t!)
The thing is, as much as it can be hard to keep consistent with your marketing, it’s even harder for most people to have confidence in what they’re doing. You know—to know whether or not the time, money, and resources you are pouring into your marketing are even moving the needle.
So today, let’s have an important and candid conversation to help you learn how to know if your small business marketing strategy is working. Because you can’t afford to not know.
Today, we are talking about the things you need to have and do to know which parts of your marketing strategy are working—and what parts might need some work.
Here’s what this blog will cover:
- Setting marketing goals and objectives first
- Asking yourself how good your leads are
- Evaluating your business sales
- Tracking KPIs
- Frequently asked questions
You Need to Set Marketing Goals and Objectives First
Whenever you are trying to judge whether or not something is working in your small business, you need to have something to judge—which is exactly where marketing goals and objectives come in. Honestly? Without them you’re just a sailor on a ship with no direction.
So when it comes to knowing if your small business marketing strategy is working, think of your goals and objectives as the mile markers you need to pass in order to get to your destination.
In plain English? You can’t know if your marketing is working if you don’t have goals and objectives.
That’s because your goals define the ultimate thing you are working towards. You know, the entire reason you’re putting effort into your marketing and running your small business? Think about and set your business goals first. Do you want to build your brand to become super recognizable in your market and industry? Do you want to do a better job with SEO to increase the number of people who are learning about your small business through search? Whatever your goals are, get those written down and somewhere you can see them.
The next thing you want to do is set objectives for each of your goals. And if we’re going back to our “mile marker” analogy, these are the more incremental things you need to accomplish while on the road to (read: making progress towards) your marketing goals. These tend to be more measurable in a traditional sense, so if you’re trying to grow your brand, your objective might be to grow your email list. If you’re trying to do a better job with SEO, you probably want to increase website traffic. Write these down too.
And come back to them as you do your evaluating.
Ask Yourself: How Good Are My Leads and Customers Right Now?
The first thing to do if you’re looking for a quick and dirty gut check on how to know if your small business marketing strategy is working, ask yourself this question: How good are my leads and customers? Like how good are they right now, have they been for the past month, and for the however-many-months-before during the time you’re evaluating.
Because (long story short), if your marketing has been attracting high-quality leads or great customers, it’s working. If your marketing has been attracting leads who ghost you or customers who are spending below your average transaction value, it needs some work.
But if we take a step back, you’ve gotta know and define what a “high-quality” lead is or a “great customer” first. If you don’t, you’re back to that wandering sailor phase of things.
When it comes to defining these folks (in our effort to make sure you’re really getting to the bottom of whether or not your small business marketing strategy is working), you’ll want to create customer personas. And here’s where you can learn how to create customer personas.
Evaluate Business Sales
Next up, another critical piece to knowing if your small business marketing strategy is working is by looking at your sales. After all, sales are the lifeblood of any business.
Here’s how to evaluate your business sales in relation to your marketing efforts:
- Look at overall revenue growth
- Identify spikes or dips in sales
- Compare marketing spend to sales
Taking the time to evaluate your sales trends alongside your marketing efforts will help you see where your strategy is working and where it may need improvement.
How to Really Know if Your Small Business Marketing Strategy is Working—Track KPIs!
Lastly, your marketing metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) are the best way to really evaluate your marketing. The problem is, you’re probably not tracking them. (Too many small businesses aren’t. So, excuse us while we get on our soapbox about this.)
KPIs help you understand two things:
- The overall health of your business: how much money is coming in versus going out. This is important because we have to run a healthy business—no ifs, ands, or buts.
- The impact of your marketing: (winner winner chicken dinner right here—this is the answer to your question!) From which channels are most effective to how much it costs to win a customer, and more. These KPIs can confirm you’re doing the right things or kick you square in the face when you’re not.
Tracking these KPIs gives you data-backed insights into what’s working and where you need to make adjustments. Which means you can be really confident in the decisions you’re making. And if you want to go deeper into this, here is where you can learn more about key performance indicators.
Wish someone would just tell you how to market your business? Watch this.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions we often get asked. We hope this helps you know for sure if your marketing is on track—and how Enji can make the whole process easier.
What KPIs should I be checking?
It’s going to look a little different for everyone but in general, you’ll want to keep an eye on key metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), which tells you how much you’re spending to get each new customer.
You’ll also want to look at your conversion rate to see how many leads are turning into paying customers, and check your Return on Investment (ROI) to make sure you’re earning more than you’re spending.
Finally, track website traffic and engagement—you want to know if people are finding your site and staying interested. These KPIs give you a clear sense of what’s working and what’s not.
How long should I wait before evaluating my marketing strategy?
You need to give your marketing strategy at least 3 to 6 months before you start judging it. Yeah, that can feel like forever, but marketing takes time and consistency to build momentum. That said, keep an eye on things like website traffic and social engagement early on to get a sense of how things are going. The longer timeline will give you enough data to make real decisions.
How do I know if my marketing goals are realistic?
Your marketing goals are realistic if they’re specific, measurable, and actually doable with the time and resources you have. If your goal feels more like a pipe dream or something that’ll take years to achieve, you might need to break it down into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Think short-term wins that help you keep moving toward the bigger picture. And if you’re unsure, you can always adjust as you go—because nobody’s got time for goals that aren’t realistic.
How do I improve my marketing strategy if it’s not working?
First off—don’t panic! If your strategy isn’t hitting the right notes, start by checking your KPIs. Where are things falling short? Once you know, it’s time to make some adjustments. Maybe you need to focus on different platforms, fine-tune your messaging, or get more consistent with posting.
Enji’s marketing strategy generator can help you figure out the next best steps, so you’re not just guessing what to change.
Enji Can Help You Build a Small Business Marketing Strategy That WORKS
Taking an educated guess here, but we’re thinking you’ve made it this far because you really need to make sure the precious (read: very limited) time you have to work on marketing is actually doing something. And if you’re thinking, “Yes. Yup. Yeah,” we’ve got just the marketing tools to help!
Enji is marketing software for small business owners who have to do their own marketing but aren’t marketing experts. And whether you think of it as a marketing platform or marketing system, Enji is definitely a place for you to plan, organize, and do your marketing.
Seriously, you can create a marketing strategy for your small business (that includes goals and objectives), get recommendations on the marketing tasks you need to do, get your blog writing and social media scheduling done way faster (thanks AI), and track your KPIs all in one place.
It might sound too good to be true, but it’s true!
Start your FREE trial today! And if you want to watch our marketing tools in action before you do, check out this demo first.
