How to Perform a Mid-Year Marketing Review

If you woke up on July 1 and asked yourself, “where has the year gone?” you’re in the right place. After a year that seemed to never end, 2021 sure seems to be flying by. And although we all seem to be moving at light speed, it’s crucial to take a moment this month to perform a mid-year marketing review. Analyzing your efforts mid-year can lead to a better understanding of your current standing and help you improve performance for the rest of the year.

Step 1: Review the first six months

Before you outline where you’re headed, take a look at where you’ve been. Analyze sales performance for the first six months of the year and review how this stacks up to the objectives you set for 2021. Are you on track to meet your SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound) goals, or do these need to be adjusted?

If you didn’t set SMART objectives for the year, it’s not too late. Setting trackable goals helps you align your strategy to your desired outcome leading to more thoughtful and productive marketing efforts. Check out this blog for help crafting plans that will make the next six months your best yet.

Beyond sales performance, look at your marketing efforts to date and the associated ROI (return on investment). Determining ROI depends heavily on the trackability of actions. However, tools like Google Analytics, promotional codes, and call metrics can help you identify what sources are producing the most traffic. An in-depth review of your efforts can help you determine which strategies brought in the most results. This analysis will help you budget better and make better future decisions in step three.

Step 2: Outline the next six months

Once you have a good idea of Q1 and Q2 performance, outline your expectations for Q3 and Q4. If your annual goals need to be adjusted, now is the time to do so. Many of our clients, for example, are comparing 2021 to 2019 since 2020 was such an “off” year. Further, media and industry reports are indicating that many hospitality businesses are enjoying banner years, crushing previous records monthly. If you’re in that position, you may want to consider changing what you forecasted for the rest of 2021.

Review performance to date and set realistic objectives for the remainder of the year. When adjusting your goals, be sure to consider any expected changes in business, such as seasonal peaks and dips in sales, or plans that may affect performance, such as an upcoming product launch or rebranding effort.

In addition to outlining your expectations in your marketing review, outline a few best-case scenarios for the rest of the year. These ambitions are often called “reach” or “stretch” goals, only achievable through extraordinary effort. These are your “in a perfect world” scenarios, and while they may not seem attainable, they’re an excellent striving point to help you advance beyond your expectations.

Step 3: Combine steps one and two to craft your strategy 

Craft a strategy for the second half of the year by combining your year-to-date analysis and expectations for the year. By looking at what produced the best ROI in Q1 and Q2 and identifying your objectives for Q3 and Q4, you can determine which efforts will help you reach your end-of-year goals. To put it simply, if there was a strategy in the first half of the year that didn’t produce the desired results, don’t revisit it. And conversely, if there was a strategy that exceeded expectations, shift marketing dollars to enhance that effort further.

Reaching your yearly objectives shouldn’t be a guessing game. If you’re finding it hard to perform a marketing review to analyze where you’re at and get a clear understanding of what your marketing strategy should include, contact us for help. The PTE team has 15+ years of measuring performance and providing proven results to our clients. Let us help you make the most out of the rest of 2021.