Want To Improve Your Marketing? A 23-Step Checklist

Welcome to the first step in improving your marketing. There are a lot of different ways you can go about this.

So we’ve created this checklist to help guide you and make sure you don’t overlook any opportunities that will hopefully lead to higher conversion rates, increased sales, more customers, and more revenue.

How To Create Your Marketing Checklist For Your Business

Key Takeaways
1. Utilize effective questions for improved marketing.
2. Conduct interviews on the phone for better insights.
3. Enhance productivity using actionable tips.
4. Understand reasons behind occasional marketing research challenges.
5. Explore various types of marketing research techniques.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Define Your Goals

This is the first step of a 23-step checklist to improve your marketing. I’ve found that if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s hard to get there! And even if you do know where you’re going and how to get there, it’s still hard because no one tells us how to define our goals as marketers.

We just need a good map that shows us what steps are necessary and how they all fit together. That’s why I created this document: so that marketers can understand what it means when we say “define their goals” or “set objectives.”

Asking the right questions is a crucial skill in marketing. Learn how to craft effective questions that drive your marketing strategy in our guide on how to ask questions that will help you market.

Why Do You Need To Define Your Goals?

Marketers tend not to spend much time thinking about objectives or KPIs (key performance indicators). This can be a problem because without clear goals in mind, we’re not able to measure success or failure.

Without measuring success, we cannot figure out how well our strategies are working, and then we must try new strategies until eventually, something works instead of questioning whether our initial strategy was flawed from the beginning!

So before moving on any further with this checklist and its subsequent steps (such as setting up analytics), make sure you ask yourself: “What am I trying to achieve?”

Step 2: Segment Your Customers

As you work your way through the steps, it’s important to keep segmentation in mind. Segmentation is the process of identifying and dividing a market into subgroups of customers based on common characteristics or traits.

You can use this information to develop marketing strategies that meet the needs of each type of customer.

One way to segment your audience is by demographics (age, gender, income level), psychographics (personality type), and behaviors (what they buy).

Step 3: Choose The Right Marketing Channels

To choose the right marketing channels, you need to have a clear understanding of your target audience and their behavior. This will help you identify what channels they use and how they interact with each channel.

Your marketing goals inform which channels you should use and why for example, if your goal is brand awareness then an ad on YouTube might be more effective than one in a trade magazine.

You’ll also need to define any budget constraints that may limit the number of possible options available to you.

Once these steps are complete, it’s time for the fun stuff: choosing what type of content or product offerings work best for each marketing channel (more on those later).

Conducting interviews on the phone requires a strategic approach. Discover the most effective techniques for phone interviews in our article on the most effective way to conduct interviews on the phone.

Step 4: Develop A Value Proposition

Good marketing begins with a value proposition.

A value proposition is a promise to your target customer that explains how you’re going to solve their problems or make their lives better, and it needs to be specific, differentiated, and unique for your company.

It includes three components: the problem you solve, the solution you provide, and the benefits of this solution for customers.

Your target audience should define who you want to reach with your product or service. This can be both quantitative (e.g., age range) and qualitative (e.g., lifestyle).

Once you have a clear understanding of who your potential customers are today.

But more importantly, what their problems are then it’s time to start thinking about how those customers will change over time as well as new markets that might open up down the road once we launch our products into them!

Step 5: Write Compelling Headlines And CTAs

Headlines are the most important part of any piece of content. They’re what gets people to read your content, and if it isn’t a good headline, then no one will even bother to look at what you have to say.

A good headline is clear, concise, and communicates the value of the piece of content before they even click on it.

A good headline will generate leads or sales for your business. It doesn’t matter if you’re using social media or email marketing – headlines are critical in all forms of digital marketing because they are what get people’s attention in the first place!

Productivity is a goal we all strive for. Explore actionable tips and insights to boost your productivity in our post on how we can all be more productive.

Step 6: Use Images That Show Emotion

Using images in your marketing is a great way to appeal to your audience. They can help you make a connection with them, and they can help them remember what you’re saying.

When choosing an image for marketing purposes, there are plenty of things that are important to consider:

Does the image show emotion? Emotion is one of the most powerful tools for marketers. It’s what makes people buy; it’s what gets them excited about something, and it’s what makes them want to share content online (especially if it’s funny).

If you want people to respond favorably to your brand or product, then you need their emotions involved! Images should inspire emotion by showing how awesome something is for example an exploding volcano or a puppy playing dress-up.

Does the image match the topic of my post? This one may seem obvious but it can easily be forgotten when creating posts on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter where character limits mean that only short sentences will fit into each post (140 characters).

Make sure that whatever picture gets chosen somehow relates to whatever topic was being discussed in any given post already so readers aren’t left wondering why there’s some random picture included at all (which also takes up valuable real estate).

Step 7: Write Copy That Connects With Your Audience

Use words that will make your audience feel something. When you write copy for a business, it’s important to keep your audience in mind and use language that they can relate to.

For example, if you sell dog toys, you might want to use words like “furry friend” or “bond with their pet” instead of “pet owner” or “owner of a pet dog.” This way, people who don’t own dogs won’t feel left out while reading your copy.

Use words that will make your audience take action. Whether it’s clicking on an ad or buying something from an eCommerce site, every reader should have some kind of action after reading the content you created here!

So make sure each sentence has a purpose behind it (otherwise known as “call-to-action”) so people know what they’re supposed to do next when visiting your site/blog post/etc…

Step 8: Get Personal

When you’re writing a blog post, the best way to add personality is by using a personal voice.

Don’t be afraid to let your true self shine through. Show your customers that you’re a real person who has been in their shoes and can empathize with them even if all it means is sharing one of your favorite jokes or anecdotes.

You can also use pronouns like “I” instead of “we” when describing yourself and what you do as an expert or authority in the industry, as well as personal pronouns such as “myself” or “I”, instead of referring to yourself as “our team” or something similar.

Another great way to get personal is by sharing stories about yourself and why certain things matter to you personally.

It’s much easier for someone else (especially those looking at whether they should buy from your company) to relate when there’s something relatable about what they’re reading!

Marketing research can fall short if not approached correctly. Dive into the reasons behind its occasional shortcomings and ways to enhance your approach in our discussion on marketing research: why it doesn’t always work and how to do it better.

Step 9: Make Sure Your Site Is Easy To Navigate And Use

A good navigational structure is essential for any website, and you must keep yours simple and clear for all visitors.

Navigation that’s too complicated will cause people to lose interest, whereas a site with a good user experience will make them want to stay longer because they can find what they’re looking for easily.

In addition, try including some friendly help text or instructions on how exactly the navigation works so that users won’t be confused by anything new they come across while browsing through your website.

Step 10: Optimize For Mobile Devices First

So, you’ve decided to optimize for mobile devices first. Great! You’re ahead of the curve.

But what does “optimizing for mobile” look like? It’s a lot of little things:

Mobile users expect high-quality content. They’re not going to read something that looks like it was made in 1990 and forced into a tiny box on their phone screen.

If you want them to read your content, make sure it looks good on their device and is easy to navigate through (especially when they’re scrolling).

Mobile users expect immediate gratification they don’t have time or patience for slow load times or clunky interfaces that make them click around more than they need to get where they’re going.

This means avoiding Flash elements whenever possible and making sure everything loads quickly not just loading quickly but also being lightweight enough so that the user doesn’t have any issues with data usage or battery life while using your site/app.

Step 11: Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)

In marketing, the phrase “Keep it simple, stupid” or KISS has been around for a long time. It means to keep your message simple and don’t try to be clever.

I recommend that you avoid being clever in all of your marketing efforts. Being clever will only distract from your main message and confuse people who are not familiar with the term. To put it another way: Don’t try too hard!

KISSing doesn’t mean that you can’t use humor or creativity but if you do so outside of the context of keeping things simple then it will not work very well.

For example, if someone wanted me to explain how they could improve their business they might say something like this: “I want my business website design company’s web pages to be different than everyone else’s!” (And yes this conversation did happen.)

Step 12: Use Testimonials And Reviews To Earn Trust And Build Credibility

If you want your prospective customers to believe that your products are a good value, they need to know what other people think of them. One way you can do this is by using testimonials and reviews.

Putting testimonials on your website is an excellent way for prospects to get the proof they need that others like their products because it provides some reassurance about quality and value.

And if you don’t have any customer-provided testimonials yet, now’s the time! You can also add reviews from experts or industry publications just to make sure they’re relevant.

The key thing here is authenticity: If someone is writing a review or endorsing your product publicly, there needs to be some kind of relationship in place between them and the business (e.g., being paid or receiving free products).

This makes it seem like there’s something at stake for both parties involved in making these connections happen.

Therefore helps build trust among consumers who might not otherwise feel comfortable purchasing something without knowing more information about its effectiveness firsthand.

Different situations call for different types of marketing research. Explore the 16 essential types of research and their significance in our guide on 16 types of marketing research and why you need them.

Step 13: Measure Your Results And Optimize As You Go Along

There’s no point in creating a plan if you have no way of knowing whether it’s working or not, so make sure that you measure your marketing activities throughout the year.

This can be done through free tools such as Google Analytics, or by using paid tools like Hubspot’s Marketing Automation tool.

A landing page tool (the most basic way) to track how many people are coming through to a particular landing page;

A CRM (to record leads generated) and social media management tool (to see how many followers were gained).

Step 14: Identify Your Most Profitable Products Or Services, Then Focus On Them

Now that you’ve identified your most profitable products or services, it’s time to focus on them. Don’t spread yourself too thin. If a product isn’t profitable, cut it!

This is where A/B testing comes in handy. You can use this method to see which of two different versions of your sales page gets more clicks or sells more products. This will help you figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Step 15: Meet Customers Where They Already Are, Rather Than Trying To Force Them To Visit You

When you’re trying to attract new customers and engage with your existing ones, it’s tempting to try and get them to visit your website. But if you want them to come back, or if you want them to buy from you again in the future, it’s better if they already know who you are.

People don’t visit websites because they’re looking for a product or service they go there because someone else told them about it on social media (or otherwise).

That means that when people do go on your website, they have no reason not only to buy but also not just leave immediately after seeing whatever it was that brought them there in the first place.

Instead of forcing people into visiting your site by giving away incentives like e-books or discounts as soon as they arrive, meet customers where they already are: on social media!

Use these platforms both before and after the sale process so that everyone involved has an incentive you’ll have a product or service worth talking about; potential customers will trust what others say about what their needs may be;

Current clients will keep coming back because they know what kind of value they can expect from doing business with you every time around; prospects will see how friendly everyone seems when talking about their experiences working together; etcetera etcetera etcetera…

Section 16: Build Real-Time Relationships With Your Audience Through Social Media Engagement

Social media can be a great way to start building real-time relationships with your audience, but you must be genuine and authentic. Here are some tips for establishing these relationships:

Be real-time. Don’t just post about content that was created weeks or months before you need to interact with your audience in real-time as well.

If you want them to see themselves in the brand, then you need to show up and be a part of their lives instead of just trying to sell them something.

Be human! Don’t try too hard or be too robotic when interacting with people on social media; this will only make them feel like they have nothing in common with you, which will make them less likely to buy from you (or even worse: become disengaged).

Genuinely engage: Don’t just reply “thanks” or “cool” when someone replies to you; take the time out of your day (if possible) each time someone responds so that they know they’re being heard by someone who cares about what they’re saying/doing!

Conclusion

Create content that is valuable and relevant to your audience at each stage of their buying cycle: awareness, consideration, decision, and loyalty. Be sure the content flows naturally from one stage to the next!

This way people will be more likely to follow through with reading all of it rather than dropping off after just one post or two posts.

For example, if you were selling cars then would make sense to have information about what makes a good car as well as how much does cost buy one these days before giving details about different models available today.

So that people know what kinds of options are out there for them when trying to decide on a purchase decision.

FAQs

What is the purpose of the Small Business Marketing Guide?

The Small Business Marketing Guide aims to provide tailored strategies and tips for small businesses to effectively market their products and services in competitive markets.

How can the 23-Step Blog Promotion Checklist benefit bloggers?

The 23-Step Blog Promotion Checklist offers bloggers a comprehensive set of steps and tactics to promote their blogs, increase visibility, and engage a wider audience.

What does the Email Marketing Checklist (Part 2) cover?

The Email Marketing Checklist (Part 2) delves into 12 crucial steps that enhance your email marketing campaigns, helping you create more effective and impactful communications.

How can I leverage the concepts from the Small Business Marketing Guide for my own business?

You can apply the insights and strategies from the Small Business Marketing Guide to tailor your marketing efforts, leveraging the specific challenges and opportunities of your business.

What kind of blog promotion techniques are covered in the 23-Step Blog Promotion Checklist?

The 23-Step Blog Promotion Checklist covers a range of techniques, including social media sharing, influencer outreach, guest posting, and more, to amplify the reach of your blog content.

Costantine Edward

Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.