How to Read Your Marketing Road Map

I love road trips, always have. We used to take massive road trips when I was a kid: out west, out east, downstate. It didn’t matter where, I loved the windows down, sun on my skin, open road feel of an hours-long road trip. We would plan out the route on our atlas, taking care to plan stops where it mattered the most: Mount Rushmore, Fenway Park, Niagara Falls.

So when I got my own car in high school, you better believe I was ready to hit the open road. In the days before smartphones and GPS, everyone knew how to read a map. Or at least that’s what I assumed. But I learned that lesson pretty quick when I took road trips with my friends that usually ended up with me pulling the map out of my co-pilot’s hands because we were miles off route in the wrong direction. Eventually we would figure out where we were and continue on our merry way, with stories to share when we got back.

Now, being able to read a road map can be a valuable skill—especially if your phone battery dies. In the same way, knowing your company’s marketing strategy and plan—your marketing road map, if you will—can be life-saving. Here’s how to make sure you, and your marketing team, know how to read your marketing road map and are heading in the right direction.

Choose the Right Map

Reading a map is only useful if you’re looking at the right map—if I’m making a trip from Chicago to Springfield, I don’t want to look at a map of the whole US. Similarly, it’s important to develop the right marketing strategy for your company or business. Solely focusing on social media tactics won’t increase quality leads if your clients still prefer direct marketing. Remember, you don’t have to target the world, only those who align with your ideal buyer personas.

Figure Out Where You Are

If you want to get from point A to point B, you first need to know where you are on the map before you can focus on where you’re going. Before thinking through the steps of how to achieve the goals attached to your marketing strategy, take stock in where the company is currently. Is your team hitting current marketing and business goals? How is marketing currently performing based on past benchmarks? Are there places where there is room for improvement, not just in terms of numbers or growth, but in customer service or in internal retention as well? The answers to these questions will enable your team to start their journey on the right foot.

Find Your Destination

When looking at a map, it’s imperative to know where you’re going, and being specific as possible. There’s a difference between going to Chicago and going to the Palmer House in Chicago—one will have you wandering about with no concrete idea of where you are and the other will have you making your hotel reservations. For marketing, being specific with where your business is headed is vital. Making specific, concrete goals about the ways in which your company would like to grow sets a destination that the whole marketing department can aim for.

Plot the Route Out

Once you know where you are and where you’re headed, you can determine the best way to get from one to the other. Sometimes the most direct route is preferred or the one most familiar. Or perhaps the journey is the point and the route needs to hit as many famous attractions as possible. Like planning a road trip, marketing strategies are bound by time constraints and whether the goal is achievable within that time period.

First, determine the time the marketing strategy should be in place to meet the goals. Based on the goals, is that time enough to get quality results from the marketing strategy to know that it was effective? If not, change either the goals or the time restraints to make sure that the goals set are achievable.

Understand the Scale of the Map

It’s not something we consider much in the age of smartphones and GPS, but when looking at a map on paper, it’s important to understand the scale of the map and how much distance there is between where you are and where you want to be. If you make assumptions about the scale of the map, you could be traveling far longer than expected. With marketing strategies, make sure that everyone knows how the goals will be measured—by visits, leads, or customers—and how to understand how to know if you’re on track.

Mark Any Landmarks

To make sure they’re on the right track, many people use landmarks as confirmation that they are where they’re supposed to be, whether it’s a gas station on a particular corner or a mountain emerging in the distance. In the same way, use past data points as benchmarks for current goals. Know where your marketing strategy goals should be at the end of each month or quarter and compare current data to those landmarks to know your tactics are on the right path.

Like reading a road map, understanding your company’s marketing strategies and goals is important to keep on track throughout the year. If you need help understanding where your marketing is headed, download this free SMART Goals template. SMART goals help you create goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Download yours today!