Make Use of Digital Marketing Tools or Eliminate Them
It’s the New Year resolution time of year. I am a big believer in setting goals with a plan to reach those targets. The problem with resolutions is that the planning phase tends to be omitted. Rather than making a resolution, make an explicit goal because you’ll be ten times more likely to achieve it if it’s well defined. As you define that plan, it’s important to evaluate how past plans were executed to ensure you won’t repeat a mistake or experience a drag from past initiatives that aren’t as productive as you intended.
A lack of analysis on past performance typically means you are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in gyms across the country. January is flooded with people that are determined that this is the year they’ll get in shape and stay healthy. By the time February rolls around the gyms have lost that overcrowded feeling (only 60% of new/renewed member still attend). By June the gym is typically back to its normal routine (only 40% of new/renewed members attend). Gyms typically only have their regular members at the end of the year because only a fraction of the new/renewed members will hold to their resolution (8% success rate).
Why are these numbers so defined? Because most gyms track them as part of their business model. It seems logical that members that stop coming to the gym also discontinue their membership. However, that’s a false assumption. Many gyms rely on members that intend to come but never take advantage of the gyms facilities. Many of the people that recommit at the beginning of the year but stop showing up by February carry their membership throughout the year, renewing again the following year.
The obvious fact is that having a membership to a gym is not going to improve physical fitness. Making a commitment to consistently use that membership will.
Statistic Brain compiled an overarching data set on what and how resolutions are made. It illustrates that our undefined intentions are not exclusive to gyms and often fail. 42% of the people that make resolutions never analyze their performance which means that they are more likely to repeat the same fruitless process.
Has your digital marketing become a set of unused gym memberships? Set your digital marketing goals but analyze the results of past initiates. If you aren’t using services and apps or they aren’t well suited to this year’s plan, then eliminate them. It’s better to define a past plan or initiative as a failure than to repeat the mistake or make a half-hearted resolution to correcting it. This can obviously save money on unused paid platforms but will have a bigger benefit in optimizing your digital marketing toolset.
Digital marketing is evolving too quickly to hold on to unused tools because they dilute focus and increase administrative needs. Make sure that your whole toolset has a clearly defined purpose for your marketing plan.