As business owners, we hear a lot about the importance of creating a marketing routine. Make time for your marketing, plan the content, send the email, share the posts and keep showing up.
Consistency matters, but completing the routine does not automatically mean the routine is working.
You can publish three social posts every week, send an email every fortnight and record a podcast every month, but if you are not stopping to look at what those activities are producing, marketing can become another collection of tasks you tick off because they are on the list.
In this episode of the Talk Podcast, I'm looking at how to review your routine through consistency, engagement, leads and sales, so you can see what is helping your business move forward and what might need adjusting.
Consistency does not mean you need to post every day or constantly create something new. You need a rhythm that fits your business and can continue when client work gets busy.
For one business, that might be an anchor piece of content each fortnight, a weekly email and several social posts created from that central idea. For another, it could be a monthly podcast, fortnightly emails and regular conversations inside groups or communities.
There is no prize for having the busiest marketing schedule. Your routine needs to support your business without taking over your business.
Start by looking at your output. What did you intend to create, and what did you actually complete?
Your Marketing Planner gives you somewhere to capture your campaigns, content, offers and activities. You can look back and see whether the podcast was recorded, the emails were sent, and the campaign was promoted.
But do not stop at saying, "Yes, I completed my marketing." That is only the first part of the review. Now we need to look at what happened as a result.
Engagement tells us whether people are noticing and connecting with our ideas, but it is not limited to likes and comments.
Someone might reply to an email, share an article, visit your website, register for an event or ask a question. A podcast listener may never comment, but when they enquire, they tell you they feel as though they already know you.
When you review engagement, ask:
Are people responding, asking questions or starting conversations?
Are they sharing or mentioning what you have created?
Are they visiting your website, joining your list or attending something?
Are they moving closer to your business?
Marketing is a conversation. A healthy routine includes making time to engage with people, not simply publishing and disappearing.
We also need to look at what is happening inside the business. How many leads and general enquiries came in? What sales did the business make? Are those numbers growing, staying steady or beginning to slow?
You do not need to make this overly complicated or attribute every sale to one post. Marketing rarely works that way. Someone may find you through Google, read an article, follow you on LinkedIn, listen to your podcast and book a call three months later.
There is not always one magical piece of content that created the sale. Different parts of your Marketing Tree work together to build familiarity, demonstrate your expertise and help the next step feel right.
Looking at consistency, engagement, leads and sales together helps you spot useful patterns:
Consistent marketing, healthy engagement and leads coming in suggest the routine is supporting the business
Content is going out, but leads have slowed, so the message, offer, visibility or next step may need reviewing
Engagement is strong, but sales are not following, so people may not understand what you offer or how to work with you
Leads and sales are coming in, but the routine is exhausting, so the marketing may be producing results without being sustainable
This is also where the art of the subtle mention matters. Talk about your products, services and memberships within your content so people can see how to take the next step.
Your Marketing Planner shows you what you intended to do. Your Marketing Progress Trees help you track what happened as a result.
You can create trees for engagement, leads and enquiries, sales or marketing output, then colour them in as progress happens. It makes the results visual and gives you a much better view than looking at your completed task list alone.
Give the routine enough time to show you a pattern. One quiet post does not mean the idea was wrong, just as one post with lots of likes does not automatically mean it contributed to the business.
Look back over the past month and identify:
One marketing activity you completed consistently
One activity that created engagement or conversation
One activity that contributed to a lead, enquiry or sale
One part of the routine you could simplify, adjust or stop
Then use what you discover to shape next month's routine.
The goal is not to add more marketing to your list. It is to create a routine that is realistic, repeatable and connected to the outcomes you want your business to achieve.
The Marketing Tree Method
See how the different parts of your marketing work together to build visibility, familiarity, trust and opportunities.
https://enevergroup.com.au/product/the-marketing-tree-method/
Marketing Progress Trees
Make tracking visual by creating trees for your engagement, leads, enquiries, sales or marketing activity.
Marketing Planner
Plan your campaigns, content, offers and activities, then look back at what you completed and what happened as a result.
https://enevergroup.com.au/product/marketing-planner/
00:00 Is your marketing routine actually working?
01:00 Consistency versus simply creating content
02:00 Create a marketing rhythm you can maintain
03:00 Compare what you planned with what you did
04:00 Look beyond likes when measuring engagement
06:00 Connect marketing with leads and sales
07:00 Read the patterns in your results
08:00 Use the Marketing Planner and Progress Trees
10:00 Give your marketing routine time to work
11:00 Review and adjust your routine
