It is July. Believe it or not, we just made it through the
first half of the year. The second half of the year has just begun. What will
you do differently in the second half that is a change from the first half?
This is a key marketing question you should be answering right now if you are
going to have a successful year.

Athletic teams take a halftime break to talk over what is
working and what is not. We oftentimes think halftime locker rooms are full of
great motivational speeches, but more often than not, they are adjustments to
strategy. I remember NFL Hall of Fame Coach Tony Dungy explaining that during a
key playoff game, the assistant coaches were taking time to describe to the
team the corrections they would make to their second half game plan. By the
time they were done, all he had time to do was say, “Let’s go!” before they had
to return to the field.

So how has your marketing strategy been working through
the first half of the year? Looking at some key statistics will help you get a
sense of whether it is working or not. Let’s look at your marketing from three
different levels by asking some questions:

• From the highest level, are your
sales increasing?

• From the midlevel, are potential
customers being drawn to your brand?

• From the lowest, or closest level,
are consumers engaging with your marketing in the current business climate?

Increasing
or declining sales

At the highest level, marketing is supposed to increase
your sales. It is geared to attract people to your brand, convince them to give
it a try and make it easy to become your customer. This is the big goal of
every marketing plan. So the first statistic you should look at are your sales
figures. Are you on track to meet your sales goals this year? If so, likely
your marketing plan is working fine. If not, you may need to adjust your
marketing to make up for lagging sales. But don’t assume that your marketing is
not working just because sales are slow. There may be other factors that will
come to light as you evaluate the details of your marketing. For instance, the
economy may be contributing to your sales growth or decline. There may be a
moment on the horizon when things pick up. Make sure you are not throwing out a
good marketing plan for a blip in the marketplace. On the flip side of the
coin, too often marketers want to take a wait-and-see approach when they should
be making changes to their strategy. Take a close look.

Are
you drawing customers closer or pushing them away?

At the midlevel of marketing, take a look at your
effectiveness to draw customers to your brand. Do they know your brand and what
product or service it represents? Awareness is your first step in a marketing
campaign. Does it solve a problem for them? If so, is it attractive to them?
You can measure engagement in your analytics, but let’s get to some key
numbers, like how long they are spending looking at your brand. How many times
have they come back to it? Where are they searching after they stop looking at
your brand?

Measure
engagement in light of the current business environment

The consumer market is an ever-changing glob of attitudes
that trend in and out of style. What is important to consumers right now? Does
your marketing align with the current attitudes? Keeping your marketing
relevant is key to selling them. Evaluate the market and make adjustments to
meet the current thought.But market conditions also have a big impact on
consumer confidence. There are times when it is easier to sell to consumers
than others. You have to make adjustments to your marketing strategy based on
what is happening right now.

Halftime is a great time to evaluate and adjust your
marketing plans. Take time to ask yourself some key questions from the highest
to the lowest levels, making adjustments now will help you meet your sales
goals at the end of the year.