atd marketing Where Are You Right Now?

80 Questions

Whether your business is large or small, marketing is all the touch-points that connect you to your customers. Having a written marketing plan helps you focus on the important things you can do with the time and budget you have right now, and creates a sequence of improvements as your business grows.

Knowing what is working and what's not and how to get the best return on your marketing investments is just good business. With modern technology, it is possible to measure results and know which marketing investments are creating profitable returns.

At the end of the checklist, please describe where you are having the most difficulties with your marketing. We trust that even going through this checklist will give you new ideas and maybe help you remember some marketing tasks you forgot about or have questions about.

General

Business Name*:

Contact Name*:

Address:

City*:State*:Zip*:

Phone*:e-mail*:

•  I have an existing marketing plan in place for my business. Yes No

•  I have at least one person responsible for managing marketing. Yes No

•  Our staff is familiar with how we market our company's products and services. Yes No

Market Research

•  I know who my target market is and I have a full written description of this market. Yes No

•  I've narrowed down who in my target market is my most likely customer:
age , sex , income level , location

•  I've estimated the number of customers in my target market who could potentially buy from me.
Yes No

•  I know who my closest 3 competitors are, what services they offer and what their prices are.
Yes No

•  I've done a price comparison between my business and my closest competitors and have made notes on why someone would choose us over them and why someone might choose them over us. Yes No

•  I am aware of what income my business is capable of producing at the level it is currently at right now. Yes No

•  I subscribe to a newsletter or trade journal for my industry so that I stay current on what is happening within the industry. Yes No

Marketing Methods

Website –

•  We have one and the address is:

•  We have more than one website and the other addresses are:


•  I have a keyword list for my business and check it regularly to keep it updated.
Yes No

•  The information on our site is current and updated regularly. Yes No

•  Our website is easy to navigate and visitors can find the most important information from the home page. Yes No

•  Our website collects visitor information through a newsletter or special sign up offer. Yes No

•  We have an automatic email message (autoresponder) that is sent out when someone subscribes.
Yes No

•  Our phone number and address is listed on the home page and is easy to find. Yes No

•  We have a contact page on our site with a map or written directions (if appropriate) Yes No

•  We use a tracking number on our website to determine what calls are coming from it. Yes No

The website answers the following questions:

•  An “About Us” page or something that tells the company's history.
Yes No

•  Services and Products we offer are easy to see on the home page.
Yes No

•  Different pages on the site give more information about the products and services we offer.
Yes No

•  Enough information to answer a customer's questions, perhaps a frequently asked questions section. Yes No

•  The site has several informational articles on our area of expertise. Yes No

•  Client testimonials are posted that include a picture and name. Yes No

•  The site has clear, attractive photos of our products. Yes No

•  The site has a price list, prices with the products or menu *restaurant.
Yes No

•  Photos of our personnel. Yes No

Email –

•  We have a system in place to collect email addresses for clients and potential clients. Yes No

•  We use a “spam protection” email marketing service like Constant Contact or iContact. Yes No

•  We produce regular email newsletters for our customers and clients.
Yes No

•  We keep track of the responses to our email mailings to our email list (opens, clicking on links, unsubscribe rates) Yes No

•  We occasionally send out special mailings such as one-time offers or alerts.
Yes No

•  We have email sequences that we use for events such as welcoming a new customer, a list of tips and hints, etc. Yes No

Online Advertising Methods –

What online advertising methods does your business currently employ?

•  Pay Per Click such as Google Adwords. Yes No

•  Search Engine Optimization – a variety of links, keywords and tags that are optimized to help customers find us using our most important offerings.
Yes No

Blogs –

•  We have a blog on our website or our website is a blog. Yes No

•  We have a separate blog such as Blogger or WordPress. Yes No

Social Media Marketing –

•  Facebook Like Page (Fan Page) Yes No

•  Twitter account Yes No

•  LinkedIn account Yes No

•  GoogleBuzz account Yes No

•  MySpace Yes No

•  YouTube Channel Yes No

•  Flickr account Yes No

•  Our business is using these social marketing tools competently. Yes No

•  Our business needs help learning how to use these social marketing tools.Yes No

Local Search –

Check off which Search Engines you've set up and claimed your local search listings on.

•  Google Yes No

•  Yahoo Yes No

•  Bing Yes No

Mobile Search –

Check off what you have set up.

•  Site optimized for mobile users. Yes No

•  Mobile landing page Yes No

•  Mobile Ads Yes No

•  QR Codes Yes No

•  SMS Yes No

Directories

Are you using online directories to market your business?

•  Online Yellow Pages Yes No

•  Yelp Yes No

•  Other

Other

Other

Facebook Ads –

•  Are you using Facebook ads? Yes No

Banner Advertising on other sites?

•  Banner Network or Direct Cross Promotion Banners? Yes No

Other Promotions –

What other advertising methods do you use?

•  Referral program for existing customers. Yes No

•  Affiliate program for related business referrals. Yes No

•  Direct mail. Yes No

•  Radio ads. Yes No

•  TV ads. Yes No

•  Val Pak (or coupon deck) Yes No

•  Newspapers Yes No

•  Craig's List Yes No

•  Angie's List Yes No

Street Visibility and Signage -

•  (If physical location is important) Our business has a sign that is easily visible from the street.
Yes No

Press Releases –

•  Our business uses press releases to make announcements. Yes No

Media Kits –

•  Our business has an online, email ready and printed media kit for media inquiries we might receive.
Yes No

Budget

•  I have an annual marketing budget. Yes No

•  Our marketing budget is based on a percentage of our gross revenue.
Yes No

•  Average monthly spending for current marketing and advertising.

Tracking

How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing methods?

•  I keep track of how a caller or new customer heard about us by asking them and writing it down.
Yes No

•  I keep a spreadsheet tally of where calls and customers come from.
Yes No

•  Our staff is trained to ask where a customer found out about us, including how they got to our website. Yes No

•  We have a system to separately track how our different marketing methods are working for getting new customers. Yes No

What are your biggest marketing challenges and concerns?

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Thank you for taking the time to fill out and submit this form. We will be in touch within 48 hours to discuss your responses and see if we have enough common ground to be of service to you. Wishing you success in all you do.