Creating a long term marketing plan allows B2B companies to have a better understanding of their goals, tactics and short-term and long-term objectives. However, despite having a rock-solid marketing strategy in place, in 12 months things can drastically chance and this is one of the many reasons marketers create annually marketing plans for their company.
Creating a different B2B marketing strategy at least once a year gives you more control over your business and it allows you to correct mistakes and to move forward faster. In fact, the best approach when it comes to a marketing plan is to adjust the strategy multiple times per year based on the changes in the market. Circumstances change and no plan is perfect so reviewing the marketing strategy on a regular basis is an important task that shouldn’t be ignored.
How And When To Review Your B2B Marketing Strategy
When you create the marketing strategy for your B2B, make sure you also create a schedule for reviewing the plan. If you have the time, it is best to review your marketing strategy at least 4 times per year, at the end of every season. However, if your B2B is selling products, it is best to check the sales report at least once per month to see if you can improve your marketing strategy.
After creating the schedule for reviewing your marketing plan, make a list of things you want to review and establish a strategy for the things that didn’t go as planned. Basically, all you have to do is to build a troubleshooting system that will allow you to make easy adjustments.
Pay attention to the signs that will tell you something is not going as planned and revisit your marketing strategy. For example, if you launch a new product or service and sales don’t go as you thought, it is time to rethink your marketing strategy and adapt it to the new circumstance.
Doing tests on a regular basis is another technique that will allow you to make marketing strategy adjustments before you end up with terrible results. Maybe the marketing plan is a good one, but you have to work on the design of a product or the copy for a service. Market testing is the best way to see where the problem is and how to fix it. Some issues are easy to fix while others require a thorough analysis and some major modifications but it is best to know you have issues before launching a product that won’t be successful on the market. In case your problem is not as easy to fix as the design or copy for a product, rethink your entire marketing strategy.
Signs That Tell You It Is Time To Review Your B2B Marketing Strategy
The two examples above are just an introduction to the signs you should be able to see, paying attention to changes in the market, technology changes and being aware of your competition’s strategy is also mandatory. If you see significant variations in your data, ask yourself a few basic questions that will allow you to react properly.
You can start with questions about the business environment, such as:
- Was there any changes in the business landscape in my country that can affect my B2B?
- Has the currency value of an average order declined?
- Did my competition launched a better product or service?
After looking at the business environment, start looking at your sales and see if there are any significant changes. Make a list of the best tactics and a list of the worst tactics. Also, compare your real sales with your predictions. After doing all these things, start to rethink and adjust your marketing strategy to make sure you are on the right track.