ANALYZE YOUR MARKETING - Blue Steele Solutions...Analyze Your Marketing | BlueSteeleSolutions.com | 4 5. START WITH STRATEGY, THEN ADD TACTICS Strategy (Long Term): Your general plan

ANALYZE YOUR MARKETING 13 Steps to a Clear Marketing Strategy

Analyze Your Marketing | BlueSteeleSolutions.com | 1

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Without a well-thought-out strategy or specific marketing tactics, your business is wandering in the dark.

Before we ever touch a single piece of our client’s marketing, we look at the big picture — and you need to do the same. Before you can formulate a strategy, before you can dig into specific tactics, you need to know the current status of your marketing.

Even if it’s nonexistent.

This guide will walk you, step by simple step, through the process of analyzing your marketing.

When you’re done, you’ll walk away with the clearest picture you’ve ever had of your marketing efforts.

You’ll see what works.

You’ll see what doesn’t.

And most importantly, you’ll know exactly where to invest your time and money to get the most out of your marketing and grow your business.

Good luck marketer, and god-speed.

EBOOK OVERVIEW



1. PRINT IT OUT

Though you’ll certainly benefit from reading this ebook digitally, it’s a workbook, not a novel — you’re meant to print it out and write. You’ll find multiple blank pages at the back of the ebook that you can use for scratch paper if you run out of room.

2. TAKE YOUR TIME

Our entire team spends hours and hours (like, at least 20 of them) on these analyses for our clients, so don’t go into this thinking you’ll be done quicker than an episode of The Office — it’s probably more like a whole season.

3. GET MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS

To get the most out this analysis, you may want to invite a few people to comment on it — employees, business partners, or even family members. We involve our entire team in the process to get as many different viewpoints as possible.

Subjectivity is your enemy — you’re in too deep to see everything clearly, so let others make comments and consider them carefully.

4. BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING

Your brand and your audience drive every aspect of your marketing. If you jump right into your website analysis without a solid brand behind it, the website is doomed to fail.

If you start thinking about email campaigns without first identifying the people you’re trying to sell to, you’re doomed to fail. Always start with audience, brand, and purpose — these form the foundation of every piece of marketing you create (and they form the foundation of your business, really).

Luckily for you, we’ve included our popular Audience Persona Template and Brand Persona Template in this guide. Just follow the instructions, and you’ll walk away with a detailed map of your brand, your audience, and how to best target that audience.

HOW TO USE THIS EBOOK



5. START WITH STRATEGY, THEN ADD TACTICS

Strategy (Long Term): Your general plan to grow your business over a long period of time (paired with large goals).

Tactics (Short Term): The specific methods used to achieve small goals over the short term, small goals that contribute to the long-term, larger goals you’ve set in your strategy.

Basically, strategy is your plan and desired endpoint while tactics are how you’ll achieve that plan and reach that endpoint in the months and years to come. Strategy looks forward far into the future while tactics focus on specific goals in the very near future. Strategy is high level, tactics are ground level.

EXAMPLE OF A STRATEGY

Our goal is to grow our business by 10% and our flagship product sales by 30% in the next 3 years through PPC advertising paired with strong landing pages.

EXAMPLE OF A TACTIC

We will spend $1500 a month for the next two months on a series of pay-per-click ads designed to send visitors to one of two slightly different landing pages, each of which pushes our flagship product. After the first round of A/B testing, we will look at our results and adjust for the next two months.

HOW TO USE THIS EBOOK



CONTENTSSTEP 1: AUDIENCE 6

STEP 2: BRAND 11

STEP 3: TAKING INVENTORY 24

STEP 4: LEAD GENERATION 26

TRAFFIC PLAN (DIGITAL AND/OR PHYSICAL) 28

STEP 5: MOVING TO CLOSE 38

NURTURING LEADS 39

STEP 6: POST SALES 40

STEP 7: SETTING GOALS 43

STEP 8: ONGOING CONTENT STRATEGY 45

STEP 9: WEBSITE ANALYSIS 47

USER EXPERIENCE, MOBILE RESPONSIVENESS, AND PAGE SPEED 48

STEP 10: INDIVIDUAL WEBSITE PAGES REVIEW 50

STEP 11: BUDGET 53

STEP 12: MARKETING PLAN 54

STEP 13: TAKE ACTION 59



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CUSTOMER PERSONAWORKSHEET

BlueSteeleSolutions.com

This section is where you describe your ideal audience. Think in terms of your absolute favorite customers, the ones you wished walked through the door every day.

Thinks specifically in terms of: • Demographics (age,

sex, location, income, language)

• Likes and dislikes • Activities, interests, and

opinions • Buying behaviors • Location in the buyer’s

journey • Jobs they may hold • Attitudes and ideologies • Political and religious

leanings • Family size and

composition • Responsibilities they may

have • Challenges they may

have at work or at home • Objections they may have

to your product or service

PRINT AND WRITE

This section should be printed out. Grab some of the blank pages in the back if you run out of space to write.

STEP 1: AUDIENCE


Analyze Your Marketing | BlueSteeleSolutions.com | 7 BlueSteeleSolutions.com | 940 312 7842

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CUSTOMER PERSONATEMPLATE




In marketing, we create detailed characters (referred to as customer personas), to represent our target audience. To complete this exercise, you’ll need to think about an actual customer or client you LOVED working with, one you profited from. Picture that person as you complete this task, or even better, interview them directly.

Pro Tip: If you have multiple ideal customers, make multiple customer personas. Just print

multiple copies of these pages.

Your goal here is to build out your IDEAL customer, the person or business you want to work with most. Your marketing will be most effective when it narrowly targets a few people.

ABOUT YOU

ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER | IF BUSINESS TO BUSINESS (B2B)

1. I sell to:

2. Your Name, Title, and Company (If Applicable)

1. Overview of the type of companies you sell to (what they do and who they do it for)

2. Details about your main (or most common) type of contact person at such a company and their role in the company

3. Annual revenue of company

CUSTOMER PERSONA TEMPLATE



ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER | FOR EVERYONE

1. What is your customer’s annual income?

2. Is this customer married or single?

3. What gender is your customer?

4. How old is your customer? What age range do they fall under?

5. List some personality traits of your customer.

6. What hobbies or leisure activities does your customer participate in?

7. Is your customer heavily involved in or concerned about politics, religion, or another cause/organization? Describe in detail their affiliations and feelings about these groups.

8. What is your customer’s technical level of expertise? How comfortable are they online? Do they use mobile devices? What social networks are they on?

9. What keeps them up at night? What are their concerns? (This does not have to relate to your product or service)


OUR SECRET QUESTION

We have a question that we ask all our clients when we analyze their marketing, a question that helps frame all future marketing suggestions.

Ask us about the secret audience question on Facebook or Twitter to learn more!


RELEVANT TO YOU

1. What is your customer’s primary goal?

2. What is your customer’s secondary goal?

3. What is the biggest roadblock to their success?

4. How do you help them reach their goals or solve their problems?

5. Write a few quotes from this person in relation to their goals/challenges

6. What are their objections to your products or services?

7. How would you introduce your product or service to this person?

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DEFINE YOURBRAND PERSONA

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STEP 2: BRAND

Your brand is the essence of everything you do for your business. Use this guide to flesh out your brand so it can guide your marketing.

Be as detailed as possible here, and think especially about categories.

How can you divide and organize your products and services in a way that makes sense?

PRINT AND WRITE


To organize your products and services, consider writing down every product or service on an index card or sticky note.

Then, put them all in front of you and organize them into groups that make sense to your customer.


DEFINE YOURBRAND PERSONA

12



COMPANY OVERVIEW

Write a brief overview of what you do and who your ideal customer is. Use the customer persona template from the previous section to write a short description of your ideal customer.



IF YOUR BRAND WAS A PERSON

Imagine your brand as if it were a person. If you can think of someone famous who embodies your brand, that’s even better!

Now, think about their personality — their attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and activities. Then, write several statements and adjectives that describe your brand as if it were that person. You can include a photo of that person here.

If you can’t think of a person, no worries — just describe your brand as though it were a person. Use as many adjectives as possible, descriptive words that help you visualize your brand.

PHOTO REPRESENTINGYOUR BRAND



BRAND PERSONALITY & BELIEFS

Personable & Friendly

Corporate & Professional

Important

Not Important

Personable & Friendly

Corporate & Professional

Important

Not Important

Fun Serious

Important

Not Important

Traditional Modern

Important

Not Important

EXAMPLE

Each graph displays two opposing traits and a spectrum of importance. Place a dot on each graph to represent where your brand falls on the spectrum and how important each trait is to your brand. Avoid the temptation to be completely neutral in your answers to these questions. Be uniquely you; your best customers will love you for it.

In the example below, the brand owners feel strongly that being personable and friendly (while not being overly outgoing) is critical to the brand.



Feminine Masculine

Important

Not Important

No Tech, Conservative

Cutting Edge, Innovative

Important

Not Important

Important

Not Important

Accessible to All

Upscale

Important

Not Important

Important

Not Important

Young Old

Important

Not Important

ADD YOUR OWN PERSONALITY TRAITS BELOW



KEY AFFILIATIONS & CAUSES

1. What religious, political, or social affiliations are important to your brand or business? What about organizations and causes?

2. Describe all affiliations and causes.

3. What is your brand’s standing on each affiliation or cause?

4. Do your beliefs align with your ideal customer?

5. Should your beliefs be conveyed through your brand strategy?

6. Are these beliefs and affiliations relevant and important to your brand in the public eye?



THIS, BUT NOT THAT

Use opposing adjectives to define what your brand is and isn’t.

Example: Financially prudent, but not cheap.Example: Tech forward, but not tech dependent.

Example: Conservative, but not uptight.

but not

but not

but not

but not

but not

but not



YOUR BRAND VOICE

1. Do you refer to your brand in first person (we, us) or third person (they, them, the name of your brand)?

2. Do you refer to your customer in second person (you, your) or third person (they, them, the customer, our customer)?

3. Do you use slang or jargon?

4. Are contractions okay?

5. Is your voice conversational or technically correct?

6. Which aspects of your brand’s voice should appear on documents or marketing materials available publicly? What about internal documents?



PHRASES YOU WOULD USE

1. How would you answer the phone?

2. How would you address and close an email?

3. An error alert on your website might look like:

4. A success message on your website might look like:

5. A tweet from your company would say:

6. A marketing message would say:



KEY STATEMENTS

Think about it this way: you created your business for a reason. Something inspired you, and whatever that was, your clients can probably relate to it. Try this exercise before you start creating marketing materials of any sort.

Here’s our example:

I started Blue Steele Solutions, a full-service marketing firm that helps small businesses to grow, be more efficient, and perform like the big guys because I was sick and tired of seeing good ideas fail and good people feel like failures.

BATTLE CRY

I started

that helps

because I was sick and tired of

a

to



Features are great, but they don’t sell much. Focus on benefits to convey the true value of your products and services. A benefit is how the product or service improves someone’s life, whereas a feature is just what your product or service does.

For example, storing 128 GB worth of songs is a feature of a smart phone, but it means nothing on its own. However, being able to listen to any song you want, anywhere you want, any time you want —that’s a benefit. Your product should make your customer awesome — the product itself isn’t what’s awesome.

To find your benefits statements, complete the following Copyblogger exercise.

1. List all the features of your product or service. Then, narrow it down to the features that are most likely to hook your prospect.

2. Examine what each feature does or why you’ve included it.

3. Take your list of what your features do, then ask yourself this: “How do they help my customer become awesome?”

4. To get to the bottom of each feature’s true benefit, keep asking the question “What does this mean for my customer? How does it change or improve them?”

5. Now, write the benefit of the product or service. You should never have more than 2 benefits listed for your product or service on any marketing materials.

BENEFITS STATEMENT



COLOR & TYPOGRAPHY

If you already have an established color palette and typography set, list it below. If you haven’t completed this step of the process, take this worksheet to the nearest branding specialist and put them to work.

Or, you can just give it to us. Give us a shout at bluesteelesolutions.com or 940-312-7842

1. Fonts Used for Web:

2. Fonts Used for Print:

1. CMYK Colors:

2. RGB Colors:

3. Color HEX Codes:

TYPOGRAPHY

COLOR PALETTE




Knowing where you stand, both in terms of your marketing and in terms of your business, is crucial to deciding what needs to change (and what needs to stay the same).

Think of it like this: If you don’t regularly take stock of the products in a grocery store, you run out at crucial times. If you have no idea that one product is consistently out of stock and that another rots on the shelves so often that it costs more to stock than it actually brings in, that store is not only continually taking hits (hits you could easily stop), but it might actually fail, and all because you didn’t take a close look at your products and how they were performing.

The same applies to your marketing. If you’re spending all your time and money on marketing tactics that aren’t working (or aren’t working as well as others), you’re leaving business on the table.

And nobody wants to do that.

PRINT AND WRITE


STEP 3: TAKING INVENTORY



Pro-Tip: Grab a notes page from the back — you’re gonna want it for this one.

It’s time to take inventory of your current marketing and then set some goals. In the space below and on your notes page, write down everything you’re currently doing to market and grow your business. Think in terms of:

• Lead generation • Moving to close • Post-sales

If you’re not quite sure what to put in these sections, you can skip ahead a bit and read the sections on Lead Generation, Post-Sales, and Moving to Close to get a better idea of what you should be writing.

LEAD GENERATION

MOVING TO CLOSE

POST-SALES

STEP 3: TAKING INVENTORY


STEP 4: LEAD GENERATION


Most of the time, we think of marketing in terms of generating leads. Creating brand awareness can be just as important. However, you shouldn’t pour your entire marketing budget into tactics that won’t bring money in the door. Instead, you need a balance.

Generating leads is a hugely important task — it’s the difference between a business that succeeds and a business that fails — so really try to think critically about the things you do currently to generate leads:

• How are you generating leads? • What tactics are working? • What tactics need to be reviewed? • What tactics can wait 6 months, or 1 year,

before being implemented again? • What tactics only raise brand awareness? • What tactics accomplish both?



LEAD GENERATION

SETTING THE GROUNDWORK

• Are your sales and marketing teams working towards the same goals? • Do they speak to each other regularly? • If it’s just you, do you think about how your marketing should be

supporting your sales goals (and not just brand awareness)? • Does your audience know you exist? • How can you let them know you exist? • Where is your ideal audience located (physically and digitally)? • How can you become visible in these places? • Have you let potential referral partners know you exist? • Are you taking steps to reward potential referral partners if they send

someone your way? • Are you incentivizing potential referral partners to send you leads? • Are you using a combination of print and digital tactics to reach your

audience online and in person?



TRAFFIC PLAN (DIGITAL AND/OR PHYSICAL)

DIGITAL TRAFFIC

• How are you getting people to your website?

• Are you using social media to connect with your audience and direct them to your website?

• Are you interacting with your audience in other social media spaces, like Tweetchats, LinkedIn groups, or on other brands’ social media pages?

• Do you have your website set up to capture a lead?

• Are you specifically telling people what to do (and do next) on each page while also providing value on your pages?

• Do you have a simple contact form? (not everyone wants to pick up the phone and call)

• Do you offer valuable content (blog posts, whitepapers, downloadables, videos) that your customers want?

• Do you require people to give you their email before downloading these resources?

• Do you have unique landing pages for all your advertising campaigns?

• Do you have targeted contact forms for different products, services, or audiences?

PHYSICAL TRAFFIC

• How are you getting people into your physical storefront?

• Are you using outdoor advertising where appropriate?

• Do you have clear, branded signs inside and outside your store?

• Is it clear when your store is open or closed and what your hours are?

• Are you making an effort to collect vital data, like names and email addresses, from physical visitors?

• Do you attend conferences or tradeshows where your audience is likely to be (and not just within your industry)?

• Are you capturing their email addresses at these events?

• Do you have a strategy to follow up with both leads and potential referral partners at these events?

• Do you have a strategy to make your booth or table interesting and inviting?

• Do you have valuable marketing materials and branded goodies to give out to visitors?

• Is your booth or table interesting and professional?

• Do you have a strategy to demonstrate the value of your product or services to any visitors?

Before someone turns into a lead, they often begin as traffic —they’ve visited your website or walked into your physical storefront to see what you have to offer. Very rarely do folks call you these days without first researching you online or in person.

Which means YOU need a plan to get people in the door, to increase traffic, so that traffic can begin converting into leads.



TRAFFIC PLAN

Use this template to plan out, as specifically as possible, how you will drive digital traffic to your website.

PRINT AND WRITE


TRAFFIC PLAN TEMPLATE



SEO

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT

IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

Hours/Month: $/Month:



PAID SEARCH

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT





FACEBOOK-ORGANIC

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT





FACEBOOK-PAID

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT





TWITTER-ORGANIC

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT





TWITTER-PAID

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT





LINKEDIN-ORGANIC

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT





LINKEDIN-PAID

AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

INVESTMENT





Leads can fizzle out. They often need regular attention to move them down the funnel.

Want to know a sales secret?

They want you to bother them.

Not everyone wants you to bother them, of course, but we don’t care about them. They weren’t very good leads anyway. The people who are interested may be busy, they may not have time to follow up, they may just forget.

They may not be ready to buy when you meet them, but 6 months from now…

That’s why regular touches are so important. Keep your brand top-of-mind for these folks, and when they’re ready to buy, guess who they’re going to choose?

STEP 5: MOVING TO CLOSE


• Do you use all the features of your CRM? • Have you set up email drip campaigns

in your CRM to help nurture your leads automagically?

• Are you qualifying your leads to make the best use of your time and/or your sales team’s time?

• Are you analyzing your data to look for opportunities to improve?

• Have you set up workflows? • Have you integrated your CRM with your

other sales tools, like proposal software? • Have you integrated your CRM with your

website?


NURTURING LEADS

START WITH A CRM

Not sure what a CRM is? CRM stands for customer relationship management system. It’s a tool that helps you manage leads and nurture them through the funnel.

Go to http://bluesteelesolutions.com/why-you-need-a-crm to learn more about CRMs (and how they can make you awesome at everything).

A CRM can help even a solopreneur to manage contacts, set reminders for followups, send automatic drip emails to leads, and generally stay organized. It’s an invaluable tool for organizations large and small.

NURTURING PLAN

• Are you following up on leads? • Are you following up with emails or phone

calls? • Are you trying to set up an in-person

meeting? • Have you determined how often you’ll follow

up with leads? How much time you’ll spend each week or month following up?

• Have you set up automated email drips or are you following up manually? Are you providing valuable information or resources in those emails?

• Have you thought out how often leads should receive drip emails? Are you checking to make sure a lead who has converted is no longer receiving drip emails?

• Are you offering leads promotions or other incentives to make a purchase?

• Are you trimming out bad leads or leads unlikely to pan out in favor of more promising leads?

• Have you automated phone follow up? • Have you set reminders for follow up?

Have you tried to make your follow ups personalized?


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You made the sale! Now what?

The first sale is only the beginning of a relationship. Depending on who you ask, it can cost you anywhere from 3 to 30 times as much to get a new customer as it does to retain an existing customer.

But marketing goes far beyond simply retaining customers, and what you do afterwards does more than drive word of mouth (though this is obviously very important).

The success of a previous sale can set you up for another. Using specific tactics to ask for referrals and reviews, marketing new products and services to existing customers, and keeping them aware of your brand (without being too annoying) can all lead to sales down the road.

And let’s be honest: those leads that fizzled out? The prospect that got away? There still may be potential business on the table with them as well. Your post sales campaigns aren’t just for the folks who decided to work with you or purchase your products — it’s for those lost deals too.

STEP 6: POST SALES



REFERRALS

• Are you asking for referrals? • Are you asking for referrals regularly and

systematically? • Do you have a process for asking for referrals? • Is it automated? (for instance, an email drip that thanks

a customer for their time and follows up with an ask for a review and a referral)

• Are you offering an incentive for referrals? • Are you requesting referrals multiple times (instead of

giving up after the first request)? • Are you thanking customers for their referrals? • Do you reward customers for their referrals?

GAINING SOCIAL PROOF (REVIEWS)

• Are you asking for reviews? • Are you asking for reviews regularly and systematically? • Do you have a process for asking for reviews? • Is it automated? (for instance, an email drip that thanks

a customer for their time and follows up with an ask for a review and a referral)

• Are you offering an incentive for reviews? • Are you requesting referrals multiple times (instead of

giving up after the first request)? • Are you thanking customers for their reviews? • Do you reward customers for their reviews?



REMARKETING

• Are you keeping data on the purchasing habits of your customers?

• Are you looking for opportunities to follow up on lost sales and see if you can convert?

• Are you looking for opportunities to offer customers related products or services?

• Have you set up automated email triggers for when a customer does not complete a sale?

• Do you have special offers to incentivize these additional purchases (or the original purchase that was never completed)?

ONGOING ENGAGEMENT

• Are you staying top-of-mind with your customers? How?

• Are you staying connected with customers on social media?

• Are you responding when they comment or interact with your social media accounts?

• Are you sending regular emails with valuable content, incentives, or deals?

• Are you personally reaching out to customers when you have a new product or service you think they could benefit from?


Now that you know where you stand, you can think about where you want to go. Remember, try to center your goals around these three aspects of marketing and sales:

• Lead generation • Moving to close • Post-sales

When setting your goals, consider how those goals will help your business grow. What do you want your marketing to do for you? How can your marketing make that happen? Think about the specific results you want to achieve in your business as a whole and how your marketing can help you get there.


STEP 7: SETTING GOALS



Write down your goals for each section.

Example: Lead Generation: Increase qualified leads by 15%. Moving to Close: Increase conversion by 20%. Post Sales: Increase purchases of related services by 7% and gain 10 positive online reviews.

Lead Generation:

Moving to Close:

Post Sales:

6 WEEK GOALS

STEP 7: SETTING GOALS

6 MONTHGOALS

Lead Generation:

Moving to Close:

Post Sales:

1 YEAR GOALS

Lead Generation:

Moving to Close:

Post Sales:



Before you review your website, you need to devise a content strategy — the method by which you’re going to produce content going forward to help generate traffic, traffic which in turn generates leads and sales. Grab a few blank pages at the back and write down how you plan to create these various types of content. Remember to list:

• The type of content • How often you’ll produce the content • Who will produce the content • How many hours a week/month that person

will spend on content

STEP 8: ONGOING CONTENT STRATEGY



BLOGGING

• Do you have a blog? • Do you update the blog regularly? • If not, should you get rid of the blog? • What is a reasonable blogging schedule that you can stick to?

ONGOING CONTENT

What other types of content would your audience like you to produce?

• Informational videos? • Social media live streams? • Whitepapers? • Interviews? • Case studies? • Video tutorials? • Webinars? • Downloadable worksheets or comparison charts? • How-to guides?

Think about how your ideal audience would prefer to consume their content and how you can create content to fit their needs.

EMAIL MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Content is meaningless if you’re not sharing it with the world. How can your customers find the content you’re producing?

• Are you sharing your content through email lists? • Are you sharing your content through social networks? • Are you commenting on and sharing content from potential referral

partners and social influencers (which, in turn, encourages them to share YOUR content)?

• Are you posting your blog posts across other blogging platforms, like Medium or LinkedIn Pulse?

STEP 8: ONGOING CONTENTSTRATEGY



Now that you’ve considered all aspects of your marketing, it’s time to take a look at your website, the place where the vast majority of your marketing is going to send people. Your website is the hub. It’s where many buyers begin and end their journey with you, and it needs to be tip top.

That’s why we’ve devoted an entire section to website analysis. You need to spend a significant amount of time analyzing your website, getting your content right, and using the website as a tool for your business.

Stop thinking about your website in terms of the look and feel. Stop focusing on design.

Instead, think about your audience — what tasks do they need to accomplish on your website? What information are they looking for? What information is most important to them? Where do they get confused or distracted?

Look especially for issues on individual pages and think about what you want your customer to do. If you want them to sign up, call you, make a purchase, or read more, include calls to action — generally, linked text with a strong verb, like “Download Our eBook.”

STEP 9: WEBSITE ANALYSIS



USER EXPERIENCE, MOBILE RESPONSIVENESS, AND PAGE SPEED

We’ve lumped these terms together because they all relate to one incredibly important factor — your audience’s experience on your website.

User experience is a broad term. It can include everything from the arrangement of your menu items and page structure to the location and size of buttons, from how fast individual pages load to how easy it is to purchase a product.

Your users need to be able to use your website effortlessly.

ACCESSIBILITYMost people don’t even consider how to make their website accessible to users who have disabilities. However, we have a short list of tactics you can use to ensure your website is accessible to your ENTIRE audience.

Just message us on Facebook or Twitter to learn more about accessibility.

The harder your website is to use, the more likely they are to bounce away. This means it has to work on any device they use, it has to load quickly, and tasks need to be simple and straightforward to complete.

If this goes far beyond your expertise, you may need to hire an expert to ensure your website meets these baselines. We’re happy to help you get that figured out :D Contact us today to get help with your website.

NAVIGATION

Does your menu make sense? Write down each item on separate index cards or sticky notes, randomize them, then organize them into groups that make sense. Try to think from the perspective of your ideal audience.

FONTS AND COLORS

Check out Wordmark.it for help choosing fonts and Paletton.com for help choosing colors.


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https://twitter.com/BlueSteeleTX

https://bluesteelesolutions.com/lets-get-started

http://Wordmark.it

http://paletton.com/#uid=1000u0kllllaFw0g0qFqFg0w0aF


MOBILE

You can find out your Mobile User Experience Score on this page (along with tips on how to improve it).

No matter how you might feel about your audience accessing your website on mobile, you need to consider it. Google penalizes websites that aren’t mobile friendly, and you could be receiving more than half your traffic from mobile devices.

If you want to rank on search results, make it a priority.

SPEED

Got a slow website? Speed it up with gtmetrix.com. Slow websites are HUGE barriers to traffic. If your website is too slow (and we mean it takes more than 3 seconds to load), you’re going to lose a LOT of traffic.

Prioritize it.

USER EXPERIENCE

Go to peek.usertesting.com to submit your website for a free user experience (UX) review. We suggest submitting your site for both a desktop and a mobile review. Then, once they email you back, watch videos of real people using your website.


https://bluesteelesolutions.com/resources/customer-persona-template/?utm_source=onpagelink&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=resource-center

http://gtmetrix.com

http://gtmetrix.com

http://peek.usertesting.com


Your goal here is to look at every page on your website. We often find that business owners or directors of marketing haven’t looked at every piece of content on their website for a while (if ever). This is understandable, but it means serious problems can go unnoticed for months or years.

To ensure that your website is working as hard for you as it should, do what we do for our clients: Evaluate every single page. Ask yourself if each page is targeting the right audience, if the content is worded correctly and free of errors, if the calls to action make sense and are located appropriate on the page, and if the design fits with your brand and your purpose for the page.

Take the time necessary to do this: This may take many hours, but the time you put in now will pay off down the road. Small tweaks and improvements can often lead to large gains in traffic, click-through rates, and even sales.

PRINT AND WRITE


STEP 10: INDIVIDUAL WEBSITE PAGES REVIEW



Make copies of the next two pages and complete one set for each page on your website. You can also check the back of this book to find extra copies of these two pages.

PAGE NAME

• What is the title of this page?

• Does the title make sense?

• Do you have more than one H1 heading on this page?

• If so, reduce to a single H1.

PURPOSE/GOAL

• What is this page meant to do?

• What do users think this page is meant to do?

• What do you need this page to do?

DESIGN/LAYOUT

• Does this page match the branding and layout of the rest of your website?

• Is the layout confusing or disorienting to the user?

CONTENT REVIEW

• Is the content too wordy?

• Are important pieces of information hidden in the middle of paragraphs?

• Does it have headings?

• Is it easy to scan?

• Does it have bulleted or numbered lists where appropriate?

• What about tables?

STEP 10: INDIVIDUAL WEBSITE PAGES REVIEW



HELP USERS WITH CALLS TO ACTION

Users like to be told what to do. They like have a clear course of action to move from one area to the next. Simply put, a call to action is a phrase or sentence with a strong verb that tells your audience what to do next.

For example, “Click here to learn more,” “Buy Now,” “Learn more here,” “Click here to find out what the secret is,” “Download Your eBook.”

All these calls to action tell your reader what to do next. Use them liberally throughout your website. Help your users figure out what to do next. You’re not being pushy — you’re being helpful.

• Does this page have clear, strong calls to action or calls to value? • Do the calls to action need to be changed or updated? • Do you need to add more to the page? • Are there too many? • Are there competing calls to action?

IMPROVE THIS PAGE

Write your ideas for improving this page, both for human readers and for search engines.

IDEA HOW YOU’LL IMPLEMENT IT


The Marketing Budget Template will help you plan, to the dollar, the specific amount of money you need to spend on your marketing each month and year.

Marketing budgets can vary drastically, and every business is different, so the amount you devote depends on you. However, marketing is directly tied to business growth. You need to ask yourself one short question:

How much do I want to grow this year?

Try not to drop your whole budget into a single marketing tactic (unless you have no other choice). Sometimes, you just have to devote the budget for the year to the new website, and that’s just how it’s going to be.

If possible, spread your budget out across a variety of tactics. Just like a stock portfolio, the strongest marketing strategies are diversified.

Go to bluesteelesolutions.com/resources/marketing-budget-template and download your marketing budget template. The template is already set up to calculate your budget once you plug in some initial numbers.


STEP 11: BUDGET

MARKETING BUDGET TEMPLATE

By Blue Steele Solutions

http://bluesteelesolutions.com/resources/marketing-budget-template





MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE

Here’s where you take everything you’ve learned and flesh out your plan.

You’ve got a strategy in mind and a budget in place — now it’s time to think about exactly what your tactics will look like.

Fill out each section carefully, paying extra attention to the Reason section. You shouldn’t be spending money on a marketing tactic if you don’t have a good reason for doing so.

PRINT AND WRITE


STEP 12: MARKETING PLAN




DateTime Period This Plan Will CoverYour OrganizationPersona You’re Targeting

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Note the list of tactics below. If you’re not familiar with how these marketing tactics work, spend some time researching each tactic. You’ll need to complete all the preceding sections before you begin creating your marketing plan, especially your goals section.

Remember to align your tactics with your overarching strategy and your goals. If a tactic isn’t helping you achieve your goals, it should probably be discarded.

Check the back for multiple copies of your marketing plan template pages.

HOW TO USE THIS TEMPLATE

To use this template, fill in each blank “tactic” space with one of the tactics you intend to use as part of your marketing strategy. A tactic is simply the method by which you intend to turn your goals and your strategy into reality, the real-world methods you’ll use.

For example, you may have a goal of growing your business by 15%, and your strategy to do this may be to increase inbound traffic to your website by 100% over each 6 month period and to increase sales by 30%, conversions by 20%, and leads by 40% over 2 years. But how specifically can you make this happen?

That’s where your tactics come in. For example, to increase your leads by 40%, maybe you use a combination of PPC advertising and direct mail campaigns to drive people to your website, where they are shown a specific offer. This template is designed to help you decide and outline the tactics you’ll need to reach your goals. We won’t hold your hand here — it’s up to you to figure out which tactics will work best for your business (and how to implement them).

POSSIBLE TACTICS


• SEO and/or SEM • PPC Advertising (on search engines or

social) With Landing Pages • Organic Social Media • Content Marketing (Blogging, eBook/

Whitepaper Creation, Video/Audio File Creation)

• Email Marketing • Outdoor Advertising • Direct Mail • Tradeshows • Radio/Television Advertising • Promotions or Promotional Materials • Warm/Cold Calling



Reason

Audience (Persona That You Are Targeting)

Expectations and Goals

Cost, Time Frame, and Frequency

TACTIC:



Reason




TACTIC:



If you’ve worked your way through this guide, congratulations!

Number 1: Wow, you’re a hard worker!

Number 2: Now that you have a clear picture of where you are, what are you going to do with it?

Your marketing analysis means nothing on its own. Nothing will change until you take action.

STEP 13: TAKE ACTION



This guide has given you a great deal of insight, but it’s not meant to point you in a particular direction — that’s up to you. Look at the information you’ve found, look at the gaps, and find ways to fill them.

And if you can’t, either because you aren’t sure how, or you don’t have the time, ability, or resources to do so, that’s ok! That’s what we’re here for.

You can take this guide to any marketing firm, but we hope you’ll bring it to us. We’ll help you get your marketing where it needs to be (so that you can focus on running your business).

Click the button to discuss your project, or just visit us at bluesteelesolutions.com/lets-get-started to tell us how we can help.

STEP 13: TAKE ACTION


http://bluesteelesolutions.com/lets-get-started

http://bluesteelesolutions.com/lets-get-started


Reason




TACTIC:



Reason




TACTIC:



Reason




TACTIC:



Reason




TACTIC:



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TACTIC:



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TACTIC:



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TACTIC:



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PURPOSE/GOAL




DESIGN/LAYOUT



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IMPROVE THIS PAGE





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DESIGN/LAYOUT



CONTENT REVIEW














IMPROVE THIS PAGE





PAGE NAME





PURPOSE/GOAL




DESIGN/LAYOUT



CONTENT REVIEW














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PAGE NAME





PURPOSE/GOAL




DESIGN/LAYOUT



CONTENT REVIEW














IMPROVE THIS PAGE




Documents

ANALYZE YOUR MARKETING - Blue Steele Solutions...Analyze Your Marketing | BlueSteeleSolutions.com | 4 5. START WITH STRATEGY, THEN ADD TACTICS Strategy (Long Term): Your general plan