June has a way of sneaking up on you. One minute you’re wrapping up Q1 goals, and the next, you’re halfway through the year, wondering where the time went and whether your marketing is actually moving the needle.
It’s extremely challenging to evaluate your marketing strategy while you’re in the middle of executing it. Day-to-day tasks take over, and it can be difficult to determine, “Is this working? Should we still be doing this? What do we do differently in Q3?”
A mid-year reset carves out the space to answer these questions. You can set aside time to take an honest look at what’s earning its keep, what needs to go, and what’s worth fixing before the year gets away from you. Here’s the framework we walk our clients through:
Start With the Data
Before you make any decisions, look at the numbers. This sounds obvious, but a lot of mid-year marketing changes happen intuitively. Businesses might cut out a tactic or double down on one without actually checking to see what the data says.
To prevent that, pull your analytics from January through May and ask:
- Which channels are driving the most traffic, leads, or conversions?
- Where are we seeing consistent engagement, and where is content falling flat?
- Are the right people finding us, or are we getting traffic that never converts?
- How does this compare to the same period last year?
You don’t need a formal audit. An honest 60-minute review of your top metrics is enough to start making better decisions.
What to Keep
Some of your marketing tactics are likely working well, and they may be subtle, like a blog post that drives organic traffic, an email newsletter your audience actually reads, or a referral relationship that keeps sending you the right leads. These are worth more than they get credit for, and they’re easy to deprioritize when something shinier comes along.
Before you change anything, figure out what’s actually carrying weight. Then make sure it’s protected and properly supported going into Q3.
What to Kill
Most business owners hesitate to pause a specific tactic, and that can lead to wasted time and wasted money.
Every marketing mix contains strategies that have outlived their usefulness. A social media channel may not be relevant, or a paid media campaign may show no results. These tactics stay on the list because cutting them feels like admitting they didn’t work, or because no one has taken the time to look closely enough. Cutting them isn’t failure, it’s how you make room for the stuff that matters.
For anything you’re questioning, ask: if we were starting fresh today, would we choose to do this? If the honest answer is no, stop doing it. You don’t need a replacement lined up first. Freeing up your budget and your bandwidth is enough of a reason.
What to Fix
Not every underperformer needs to be cut. Some marketing approaches just need attention. This is an area where the biggest opportunities can be hiding, because you’ve already done the hard work of building the strategy. A few things worth looking at:
- Your website: If you’ve found yourself apologizing for it, hedging when you send people to it, or just quietly hoping prospects don’t look too closely, that’s a problem. Your site is your hardest-working salesperson, and if it’s not reflecting the quality of your business, it’s costing you.
- Your messaging: Has your business changed in the past year or two? Have you added new services, a new focus, or a new client type? Your marketing materials may still be describing a version of your company that doesn’t exist anymore.
- Your content: Are there questions your prospects ask all the time that your blog or website doesn’t answer? That gap is an opportunity. You don’t always need new content. Refreshing what you already have can be just as powerful.
- Your follow-up process: Leads going quiet after an initial conversation? Sometimes the issue isn’t marketing, it’s what happens (or doesn’t) after someone indicates interest in your product or service. Make sure your protocol for following up with prospects is clear and effective.
Set Two or Three Priorities for Q3
Once you’ve worked through what to keep, cut, and fix, resist the urge to build a long list of new goals. Most won’t happen, and you’ll spend more time managing the list than acting on it. Instead, pick two or three things that will actually move the needle and build a simple plan around each one. Write them down, assign ownership, and put a timeline on them.
The businesses that finish the year strong aren’t usually the ones that did the most. They’re the ones that stayed focused, kept going back to what was working, and made deliberate choices about what wasn’t worth their time.
Green Apple’s Approach: Strategy Before Tactics
At Green Apple, we help businesses take a step back and look at the full picture, not just individual campaigns, but how everything is (or isn’t) working together. Whether that means a formal strategic planning engagement or a straightforward conversation about Q3 priorities, we’re happy to think through it with you. Reach out to our team anytime.