It’s hard not to focus on tactics when you think of marketing your business—email automation, funnels, landing pages, ad campaigns, webinars, social media posts, blog promotion, etc. In this article, which covers the second part in my four-part Revitalize Marketing Strategy series (catch up on Part One here), I cover how you should think about and implement marketing tactics so you can be more successful in the new economy. You’ll learn:

• How to have greater clarity around your approach to marketing and lead generation
• How to use prioritization tools to reduce waste and streamline production
• How to increase revenue by focusing on the right tactics for your business

Before I get into Part Two, watch this video for an Introduction to the Revitalize Strategy series, and this video for Part One of this strategy. For those who want “try this at home”, here’s a worksheet to help you implement Part One in your business!

The wrong tactics waste time and money.

Would you do something if you knew it wouldn’t yield the results you wanted? Of course not. Yet every day I see business owners and marketers spend many hours and a big portion of their budget on marketing tactics that:

• Have no supporting strategy
• Are not measured against results
• Are incomplete and untested
• Homogenize their brand
• Destroy trust
• Attract the wrong audience
• Deliver mediocre results, if any at all

That’s just to name a few. While many jump on the FOMO bandwagon and deploy the latest tactic just to mimic what they observe is popular in the marketplace or what an influencer has promoted, remember this:

Everyone has an agenda.

What is your agenda? What do you want to accomplish when you put yourself out there as a brand? As a company? As a service wanting to connect with those who really need what you do? 

Your tactics showcase your agenda.

I’m not here to demonize marketing tactics. Not at all. What I am trying to do is alert you to the missteps of not planning your marketing tactics in such a way that:

• Establishes trust
• Distinguishes the integrity of your brand
• Attracts perfect-fit clients
• Ensures long-standing relationships
• Creates a memorable, positive experience
• Generates results you can measure

How effective are you at getting things done?

Let’s start by looking in the mirror. When you consider a particular marketing tactic, such as a Facebook ad campaign, do you have a strategy? Is that strategy one you can measure? Are you prepared to tweak that ad campaign inside Facebook’s Ad Manager every day? Do A-B testing? Adjust as you go? Let it run long enough to gather momentum with Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm?

It’s not just about seeing the activity on the ads and celebrating the trickle of users who happen to click on the ad and sign up for your webinar or free masterclass. It’s about turning the mirror on yourself and looking at your choices and behaviors around your marketing tactics.

Successful tactics are an outcome of good planning.

Since we are talking about revitalizing your marketing for the new economy, you have to also look at revitalizing how you behave so you can adopt new behaviors that drive better results in the new economy for yourself and your business.

Take a moment to think about how you implemented your tactics pre-pandemic. What were some of your habits, both good and bad? Were you organized? Did you have a strategy? Were your tactics well thought out and designed to forward a revenue goal? Did you spend the right amount of time designing the creative and testing the campaign? Did your tactic reflect how your prospect shopped?

If you rushed to implement the tactic without proper preparation, you may not have gotten the results you wanted. But, is it the failure of strategic planning, or the failure in execution? Only you can tell. So if you rushed to the tactic without the planning or strategizing, why was that the case? Take a look at your thinking around that approach. Did you feel pinched for time? Did you not really know how to create a strategy or prepare your tactic for success? Did you learn a particular tactic that really wasn’t necessarily a fit for your audience or business?

Whatever thinking, behaviors or approach you took that did not yield success before the pandemic will yield the same results unless you become more aware of your behaviors and upskill them for success. If in the past you implemented tactics without a measurement plan for success, create a plan. If you had FOMO and rushed to implement a tactic without really understanding if it is a fit for your business or audience, notice that and make more intentional choices next time.

Hone those skills that were not strong pre-pandemic so you can approach your marketing differently now and in the future. Here are some ideas on how to do that:

• Make a list of the marketing tactics you’ve done in the past that have not yielded the desired results. Look for gaps where you may have skipped important steps like planning a solid strategy, building a measurement model, doing an A-B test phase or rushing your creative.
• Make a list of the marketing tactics you’ve done in the past that worked great. What was different? What can you assess about the difference between what worked and what didn’t?
• Make a list of the behaviors or thinking that you did before that led to low results versus high results. Where are the gaps? What behaviors or thinking can you adopt or shore up to improve outcomes this go-around? Do you have a habit of negative self-talk that sets you up for failure? Are you trying to mimic another brand that you perceive to be successful?
• Get an objective marketing expert to talk with you about your tactics and approach. Have them look at or talk with you about what you did before to help you see your blind spots. Just be careful not to get sucked into a marketing guru’s program in the process. A good business marketing coach can help you with this step.

Shore up your functional weaknesses with powerful tools.

Now that you’ve assessed how you used to implement your marketing tactics and made note of your behaviors and thinking around marketing, it’s time to get help. We all struggle prioritizing things and focusing on getting tasks done. Who in the business world says, “Oh, I have lots of time. Wonder what to do with myself since everything is done.” Uh, NO ONE. That’s not reality. If anything, we’re constantly hearing from our peers and colleagues in business that they are overwhelmed, can’t get things done, are stressed out and burdened with their marketing efforts, let alone delivering their products and services.

No wonder we don’t plan well- we are rushed. And rushing invites shortcuts. 

There are many tools that can help you create priority and focus time to be more productive. Use them! Here are a few that I highly recommend:

• Eisenhower Matrix—this is a powerful tool to help you prioritize your activities against the results you want to get. Learn more about the Matrix here.
• Consume prioritization and “getting stuff done” books or podcasts—There are a vast number of great books and podcasts available on the topic of being more productive. Find the one that resonates with your style and personality and adopt their approach. Here’s a list of books to get you started (Stephen R. Covey’s is my favorite).
• Go analog with a paper planner—I am a digital entrepreneur, but I am also a bit old-school. I love paper planners. Since the early 90s I’ve used the Franklin Planner and love it. The Franklin Planner is a system that when I stick with it, I get things done. One of my dear friends and colleagues, Kerstin Martin, designed a beautiful hardback planner specifically for digital entrepreneurs. She calls it her Eule Planner and it helps you plan your content marketing and social posts, along with the traditional planner features. Check it out and tell Kerstin “hi” for me.
• Get a prioritization or time-management app—get something on your phone that helps you track your time and organize your tasks. There are a TON!

Find your favorite tool, strengthen your weaknesses and eliminate those lazy habits, and before you know it you will become a rock star at getting the results you want out of your business and marketing.

Focus on what drives revenue and make them priorities.

This last part of the second step of the Revitalize Strategy is very straightforward: uncover what works best at bringing revenue into your business and do it more. Of course, you want to do the tasks and tactics that drive revenue! You’re in business! But surprisingly, many solopreneurs focus on what they like doing versus what actually drives revenue. Here are a few things you can do to discover what those activities are so you can double down on them and get that revenue flowing:

• Revenue comes from many sources. Where are your best sources of revenue coming from? For example, if your clients are referring you new business, those are excellent sources of revenue because they cost less (or nothing) to market. However, the trap door with referrals is that they are typically organic and many have no strategy to encourage and facilitate referrals. If that’s the case, create a referral strategy and tactics that drive referral business consistently. I love Bill Cates’ “Beyond Referrals” book
• Who are your highest quality clients? Get more of them! Look at the clients you have who have yielded the most referrals, wallet share (where you work with them over time, upsell or they buy your highest priced product/service) and figure out how to get more of them. You can make more money from a few high-ticket clients versus many low-ticket clients. The cost per client is a lot less too, because your marketing tactics are completely different.
• What are the indirect sources of clients? This is a bit trickier to discover. You have to look at the customer journey (from the moment a prospect first becomes aware of you to them becoming a client) and determine what is the trigger point for them becoming a client and feed that tactic or behavior. It could be a free training or masterclass or it could be an introductory, low-cost investment in working with you.

Step 2 in the Revitalize Strategy is all about assessing how you show up and think about your marketing tactics, prioritization and focus on getting things done around driving revenue. When you become more self aware of behaviors and thinking, as well as what tactics are bringing in the best results, you are better equipped to be successful with your marketing tactics and build stronger relationships with more clients.

For more on Part 2 in the Revitalizing Strategy, watch this video and explore this worksheet to help you implement this part in your business. 

Next: Part 3 in the Revitalize Strategy

Next month, I’ll cover the third step in the Revitalize Strategy that addresses the most important part of this strategy (and what inspired it): putting more human DNA into your business. How can you bring out your 1000% and drop the pretense to really connect with people? When you shift how you connect as a human with your target audience, it will transform how you look at the work you do- for the better! Enjoy the holiday season and happy new year! Make 2022 the best year yet for you and your business as the opportunities are everywhere!