Giving your marketing a second chance

There is a moment in Forest Gump that perfectly encapsulates the magic we feel as we feel as we wind down the year. Forest’s date, Lenore, lights up as she watches the ball drop in Times Square on a tiny television perched over the bar.

“Don’t you just love New Year’s?” she sighs. “You get to start all over. Everybody gets a second chance.”

 It’s easy to become swept up in the optimism and sense of relief when society’s big reset button is pressed on January 1; we want to leave the past behind us and move on to accomplish the next big thing at our credit union. The success of our marketing efforts in the coming year, however, depends on our willingness to review recent campaigns and initiatives with a critical eye.

Whether you’re just getting started planning your marketing for 2018 or already have your plan in place, ask yourself the following questions when evaluating whether or not to bring past campaigns into the new year: 

• What was the Return on Investment? The simplest metric in evaluating the success of a marketing campaign is whether or not the gains you saw paid for the campaign and also contributed to your credit union’s growth. A great number to shoot for is 200% ROI or more.
• Fix it, or pitch it? Perhaps a marketing campaign that worked in the past suddenly fell a little flat this year. In addition to re-evaluating your messaging and targeting, pay attention to recent industry trends to assess the role they may have played. Understanding these factors will help you determine if you should write off a campaign strategy in the future, or just make a simple tweak.
• How did employees respond? Marketing is taken to the next level when employees rally behind a campaign and get excited about it. Reflect on staff response to individual campaigns and what might have contributed to low enthusiasm.
• Did it help meet your credit union’s business objectives? Always view marketing through the lens of your credit union’s strategic plan and if the strategy and objectives of your campaign were in line with those goals.

 Getting excited about the coming year is great; however, if we overindulge our hopefulness and blindly look ahead without having tough conversations about the past, we’re doomed to repeat the same marketing mistakes year after year. Stay in 2017 for just a little bit longer to give your marketing a second chance come January 1.