The second half of the year seems to fly by faster than the first, and January will be here before you know it. With the end of summer approaching, it’s an ideal time to revisit your marketing wish list from the beginning of the year. Are you on track to accomplish everything by December 31, or did you get sidetracked and never got going on particular goals? If you want to build more momentum for your firm for the remainder of the year, now is the time for a marketing reset. Here’s why:
- You can see a few months ahead more clearly than looking ahead 12 months, and create a more detailed plan.
- Knowing you only have a few months left to accomplish this year’s goals can prompt action. You need to get moving.
- You have several months of history. Ideally, information you’ve tracked, e.g., where your leads are coming from, what’s in the pipeline, etc. However, even if it’s “all in your head,” you have a sense of the past six months and what still needs to be put into motion.
The marketing questions you want to ask yourself now are no different than the ones you might have asked yourself at the end of last year. However, you have the benefit of seeing what’s working (so you can do more of it during the second half of the year), and you can tweak what’s not working and bring in better results for the remaining six months.
- Data Assessment: Tracking Leads & Conversions
Do you know where your best new business leads come from – not where your new business comes from, but the genesis of prospective clients who turn into new business? If you say that relationships are the best source of new business, back up a step. Where does the opportunity for those new relationships come from?
- Identifying Opportunities: Speaking, Networking, Conferences, Articles
Now that you’ve taken a closer look at where your prospective client leads are coming from, and which are actually turning into revenue, you can focus your attention on the marketing activities that will continue to support new business generation. Identifying opportunities to network, speak and write in the coming months will allow you to calendar the planning that needs to be done to get as much marketing mileage for each activity as you can.
- Holiday Marketing: Game Plan & Database Clean Up
In December, a common theme among many firms is swearing that next year, they won’t be scrambling to get their holiday card and gift lists cleaned up. Next year has arrived! Take steps now to determine your game plan, and start implementing it. It’s never too early to start setting the wheels in motion, especially if you’d like to do something different this year.
- This Year’s Marketing Plan: Strategy, Tactics, Budget
Is this year’s marketing plan collecting dust or simply never got finished because work or family obligations got in the way? Getting a jump start on your marketing plan well before the end of the year will give you time to write down what you want to accomplish, and how you’re going to get there. This forces you to think through your ideas and provides the stimulus to make them happen.
- State of Your Online Marketing: Website & Social Media
Was this the year you were going to launch a new website or upgrade your firm’s social media presence, but it got put on the backburner? Your website is vital to the credibility of your business, and provides another opportunity to tell your story and share your expertise with prospective clients and referral sources. The same is true for social media. If both remain static into the new year, you’re missing out on a chance to leverage your firm’s capabilities and successes, and potentially losing business.
- State of Your Visuals: Marketing Materials
Similar to your website, your marketing materials allow you to paint a larger picture of who your firm is and what sets it apart from competitors. Because developing or redesigning materials can be time consuming and potentially costly, it’s often easier to continue handing out the same firm brochure or one-sheet year after year. If it’s been a while since you created them, it’s time to assess whether they are the best representation of your current firm. Are the most recent successes from ten years ago? Have you added a practice area not reflected in the materials? Is the design consistent with your website and other marketing materials?
Start Now
It’s never too early or too late to plan and undertake marketing. Successful business professionals know that marketing to reach business development goals can generate results no matter when you start. And if you want a better second half of the year, start now!
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Berbay Marketing & Public Relations has nearly three decades of experience providing law, real estate and financial firms with marketing and public relations services that propel your business forward. Berbay’s team has demonstrated success facilitating press conferences, securing media placements, achieving nominations and rankings, revitalizing websites, enhancing your social media presence, obtaining speaking engagements and more.
Looking to enhance your efforts with Los Angeles’ proven Marketing and PR team? Contact Berbay at 310-405-7343 or info@berbay.com
