Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Spring signals a time for review and assessment


By: Cole Buergi, VP of Business Development, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Spring has arrived and we all know what that means. No, it doesn’t mean warmer weather, at least not this year for Wisconsinites. It means if you haven’t already, you should be reviewing your 2016 marketing and PR plan to ensure you’re on track with what you’ve outlined to accomplish this year. 

Doing so means assembling your marketing and communications team or, if you’re a one person department, having a sit down with the company president to review your plan. I’m sure the discussion will cover lots of topics but there are five main questions you should focus on. They include:

  • What’s been accomplished to date?
  • What’s been successful and why?
  • What hasn’t worked and why?
  • What needs to be added, changed or removed from the plan?
  • What new opportunities are available?

Of course, these questions will lead to additional questions, but that is the whole point of the exercise. It’s to drill down to truly understand if you’re marketing and PR plan is aligning with the goals of the company.

Ideally, this type of review and planning meeting should take place monthly or even weekly, depending upon your company’s culture and the types of activities you’re promoting, but we all know that’s not always feasible. 

That being said, it should be at least quarterly. Any longer than that and you may have missed critical opportunities to make changes to the plan, identify new opportunities or realize you’re right on target and it’s time to celebrate!

I’d like to hear from you on how often your company reviews its marketing and PR plan. Do you think it’s often enough or too often?

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