If you’re like most business leaders, you have probably tried a wide variety of marketing activities. Some of them worked, others did not, and still others may have only worked for a while then stopped or lost their luster after a few months. If you’ve experienced that enough times you may be wondering what is the best way to market your business? Before you throw the baby out with the bath water, how did you determine which tactics were not working? Did you figure out why they were not working? Are you certain you have a marketing issue and not a sales issue? What did you do once you determined that what you were doing wasn’t working?

It’s not uncommon for business leaders to report less than acceptable results, especially in light of how much they might be spending on marketing. But do you know whether your budget is sufficient to convert the amount of new business that you want? Did you set your budget by determining what you can afford to spend in the hopes that you’d get the results you needed? Do you have your budget allocated across your tactics in a way that maximizes the results possible? So many questions, right? But they are all valid.

Success in marketing comes down to your strategy, because the methods and messages you use need to lead a prospect through the funnel. That’s why a marketing strategy and plan is so crucial to companies that want to grow. What someone else did to market their business is not necessarily going to work the same for yours. If you’re still using a multichannel approach, it may be time to switch to an omnichannel program.

Think of marketing like lining up dominoes to set off a chain reaction. When the dominoes are lined up properly, the process will drive prospects through the steps in the journey efficiently, and each step will trigger the next. However, if those dominoes are not lined up properly, the reaction can go astray, or even come to a complete halt. If you’re just saying the same thing in different media, you could be losing the opportunities you are attracting. Prospects want to hear more than the sales pitch. Are you giving them what they want to hear, when they want to hear it?

Your marketing strategy and plan should tell you which dominoes to place at each step in the process and help you determine if your process is working or needs to be adjusted. Metrics that measure progress before, during, and after each significant step in the Customer Journey are a great way to ensure you get the best return. If you wait until the end, you could be wasting a lot of time, energy, and money.

So, what is the best way to market your company? By creating a solid strategy, including activities that are consistent with your strategy, opportunities to develop insight into the success of each campaign, and metrics that help you determine what to do to improve it for the next time.

Want to review your marketing strategy to make sure you’re getting the best results? I’d be honored to provide a limited consultation for you. You can schedule one here.