How to Do Quarterly SEO Planning for 3x the Results

Let me guess.

You’re not seeing results from your SEO strategy, and you’re about one ranking away from throwing your laptop out the window.

After all, you’re doing everything right. You’re publishing new content consistently. You spend hours researching keywords. You have a thorough content promotion strategy.

Yet, crickets.

What gives? You have a leak in your SEO strategy.

Something, somewhere, has gone awry, and it’s impacting your performance in search results. Whether it’s the latest Google update, poor backlink strategy, or a competitor outwitting and outplaying you on search, this is where a quarterly SEO planning comes into play.

It will help you find those leaks, seal them up, and get you back on track to smashing your SEO goals for the year.

Ready to 3x your results and increase your organic traffic? Here’s how to implement a solid SEO plan.

Why Is Quarterly SEO Planning Important?

SEO planning is important because things change. Fast.

If you’re not monitoring the SEO landscape, you won’t react fast enough to change. Google may release a new algorithm, tanking one of your top-performing posts and a lucrative lead source with it.

Let’s look at the latest Google algorithm update, The Page Experience. Google emphasizes Core Web Vitals as lightweight ranking signals to encourage sites to give the end-user a better surfing experience.

If your site performance is not up to scratch for the new update, you’ll most likely see a knock in your Google search rankings.

Besides mitigating risks from algorithm updates, SEO quarterly planning gives you an in-depth analysis of your strategy. It will tell you what is working and what you need to adjust to stay on track and meet your SEO goals.

How to Do Quarterly SEO Planning

OK, so now that we know why SEO planning is important, let’s dive into the steps you can take each quarter to assess your performance.

1. Review Core Metrics and Goals

The first step with any strategy is to set goals. Without it, you won’t have a clear understanding of where you’re going, what you want to achieve, and measurable ROI.

Reviewing your core metrics and goals each quarter paints a current picture of your journey. It will show if you’re on track or if you need to pivot your strategy to meet your KPIs and goals for the year.

Some of the metrics you’ll want to review include:

• organic traffic
• click-through-rate (CTR)
• bounce rate
• keyword rankings
• backlinks
• page speed
• conversions

You’ll find most of these in your Google Analytics dashboard, but other SEO tools, like SEMrush and Ubersuggest, offer some of these stats as well. 

2. Review Keyword Research

Keyword research is the backbone of any SEO plan. 

It tells you what your audience is searching for (not what you think they are searching for), what’s bringing in traffic for your competitors, and opportunities for content creation.

It’s because of all this vital information you need to review your keyword research every quarter.

Why?

Search trends are not stagnant.

Every day, week, and month new terms gain or lose popularity. If you want to capitalize on search trends and become the go-to expert in your niche, you need to keep up with changes in the market.

Two of my favorite tools for reviewing keywords and finding opportunities are:

• Google Trends: This is a free tool to see industry trends and search term popularity for the entire world or a specific region. It can help you identify short and long tail keywords to include in your SEO strategy.
• Ubersuggest: Ubersuggest is a freemium tool I created to streamline your keyword research and monitoring process. It comes with a built-in keyword analyzer you can use to track popularity, ranking difficulty, and other data like user age range and click-through rate.

3. Check Your Target Audience

Raise your hand if you have a compilation of buyer personas and customer journey maps.

While these are important elements of a successful SEO strategy, you need to go beyond that if you want to triple your results next quarter.

You need to understand your audience’s search intent. When you can do that, it will make it 10x easier to find relevant keywords and to create content that converts.

When analyzing your SEO plan, ask yourself these questions each quarter to make sure you’re on the same page as your audience:

1. Who does my audience see as a trustworthy source in my industry when looking for answers?
2. What sites does my audience use to find answers?
3. What questions does my audience have about my industry, brand, and products/services?
4. What are their biggest pain points?

When you take the time to get into people’s heads, you’ll find keywords that matter to your audience and produce the in-depth content your audience wants.

4. Check Your Ranking

What’s keyword ranking?

It’s where your site is ranking on search engines.

Your position plays a vital role in the success of your SEO plan. It affects your organic traffic, lead generation, and conversions.

According to a recent search results study, the first organic result has an average CTR of 28.5 percent. Afterwards, the CTR falls sharply to 15 percent for position 2 and 11 percent for position 3.

At the end of each quarter, check the rankings for your most valuable keywords.

• Did you lose or gain positions in search?
• Which pages or blog posts need more backlinks?
• Do you need to update blog posts to keep the information relevant?
• Who took your position? What made their content better?

These are all questions you need to ask yourself during your SEO plan review. The answers will help strengthen your position in search, help you outrank your competitors, and avoid massive dips in search engine traffic.

5. What Are Competitors Doing?

The next stop on your SEO audit is competitor research.

Take the time to evaluate your competition to uncover opportunities and weaknesses in your approach.

Before you dive in, keep in mind that your competition isn’t always your direct competitor.

For example, if you sell vegan hiking socks, your competitors in search could be lifestyle blogs within your industry and brands who sell the same product.

As you analyze your competition, answer the following questions:

• What keywords do they rank on the first page for?
• What is the search volume for those keywords?
• What pain points are they focusing on?
• What are their top-performing blog posts in terms of social media shares?
• What sites are linking back to their content?
• What is their content promotion strategy?
• How does their SEO strategy compare to yours?
• What content gaps are there?

If you want to streamline your competitor research, use Ubersuggest. We have a feature that will break down:

• competitor traffic
• backlinks
• top pages
• competing domains
• keyword gaps

For social media shares, use BuzzSumo. It’s one of my favorite content research tools, which comes with free and paid options.

Simply enter a domain into the search bar, and you’ll get a list of your competitors most popular blog posts broken down by:

• date posted
• countries
• language
• social media network shares

6. Content Review

Before you start writing new content for the next quarter, you should schedule time to audit your existing content.

Why?

Your old content is already ranking and bringing in traffic. A new blog post can take up to six months before you start seeing any traction.

You’ll see quicker results and better ROI by tweaking what’s already indexed on Google. Plus, updating content costs less and uses fewer resources than planning and executing new blog posts.

When auditing your content, you want to do the following:

1. Refresh: Identity which blog posts have outdated information and update them.
2. Improve: Use this SEO hack to identify blog posts and improve their rankings.
3. Redirect: If your content is duplicated or cannibalized, it can lower your rankings. Consider redirecting those posts to a pillar post. 
4. Intent: What’s your CTR, bounce rate, and time-on-page? If you have a high bounce rate, it could be a sign your blog post isn’t matching search intent. 

7. Technical SEO Review

You could have the best keyword research, content mapped perfectly to your customer journey, a fully SEO-optimized blog post, and still not see results.

The culprit?

You have wonky technical SEO problems.

These backend issues can affect your site’s performance and speed, which are two things Google’s algorithm looks at to rank content.

If your site takes too long to load, your bounce rate will increase, and you lose potential customers.

These are all things we want to avoid, which is why analyzing your technical SEO is a crucial step.

These are the things you need to watch out and check during your audit:

• mobile optimization
• page load speed
• link health
• duplicate content
• schemas
• crawl errors
• image issues
• site security
• URL structure
• 404 pages
• 301 redirects
• canonical tags
• XML sitemaps
• site architecture

8. Make a Plan

You’re in the final stages of your quarterly SEO planning.

After auditing your website, reviewing your audience, evaluating your competitors, and analyzing your competitors, you’re ready to put that together into an SEO strategy.

For this part, you need to answer the following questions:

• What are your goals and metrics for the next quarter and year?
• How do you plan on achieving these goals?
• What content do you need to create to accomplish these goals?
• What content needs a refresh?
• What is working and what isn’t?
• How do you plan to fix what isn’t working?
• What holidays or launches do you need to prepare for?
• What tasks need to be completed, by who and on what date?

Once this is outlined, share it with your team. It can keep everyone accountable and focused on the goals you want to achieve and why.

Frequently Asked Questions About SEO Planning

How often should I review my SEO plan?

You should review your SEO plan every quarter or three to six months before campaigns or promotions.

What is SEO planning?

SEO planning is the process of analyzing your site, target audience, competitors, and keyword research to create content that ranks and converts.

What SEO tools can I use to improve SEO planning?

You can use a tool like Ubersuggest to identify strengths and weaknesses in your SEO strategy, find better long tail keywords, backlink opportunities, and see which content pieces are working for your competitors.

How does content impact SEO?

Content helps you rank on search engines. Without it, there wouldn’t be enough information to index your pages. It also gives you more opportunities to rank for a wide variety of keywords your audience uses to find your products or services.

Conclusion: Quarterly SEO Planning

SEO is never a once-and-done thing. It’s something you need to nurture and constantly give attention to if you want to see sustainable, long-term growth.

Whether you’re creating new content, optimizing old blog posts, or checking for technical SEO issues, you need to evaluate your SEO plan continually. 

Doing so will ensure you’re making progress and on track to meet your SEO metrics and goals.

What was your biggest SEO planning takeaway?

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10 Sales Tools for Boosting Results, Efficiency, and More

Without customers, you wouldn’t have much of a company.

For this reason, spending time and money on sales and marketing-related tasks is never time wasted.

In this post, I’m going to examine some of the top sales tools for boosting results, improving efficiency and organization and helping you generate more revenue.

Let’s get started!

1. HubSpot

Are you seeking a sales platform to handle all the needs of your sales process?

If so, HubSpot fits the bill. When it comes to sales and marketing tools, HubSpot is considered the cream of the crop.

From a sales perspective, there are three distinct solutions:

• HubSpot Sales Free
• HubSpot CRM
• HubSpot Sales Professional
• HubSpot Sales Hub Enterprise

With the free solution, which is a great place for everyone to start, you gain access to tools that boost every aspect of your inbound sales strategy.

For example, there are a variety of email tools, such as access to email templates and sales content.

For those who want to learn more about their prospects, locate the decision-maker, HubSpot once again has you covered.

You can collect data related to visitors, broken down by company, as well as the pages that they are viewing. This gives you a better idea of who’s interested in your product or service, thus allowing you to target the right type of prospects who are the decision-maker in the sales process.

HubSpot has a tool for every type of sales team, sales managers and sales professionals. With the ability to poke around for free, there’s no reason to put off dabbling with this tool.

2. LinkedIn Sales Solutions

Did you know that LinkedIn has more than 450 million registered users, scattered all over the world?

As the largest professional network, by far, it only makes sense that it’d be full of sales opportunities in digital marketing.

While you can mine for prospects on your own, you’re better off considering the many sales professional tools provided by LinkedIn Sales Solutions.

Comparing available products will open your eyes to which approach is best for you in social media and digital marketing.

For example, Sales Navigator is a popular choice. With this tool, LinkedIn hopes to make sales prospecting easier than ever before and that’s exactly what you’re looking for.

This tool helps in many ways, including:

• Receive custom lead recommendations.
• Access to an advanced search to find the right leads for your business.
• The use of InMail to contact any LinkedIn member.
• A dashboard for measuring and tracking your social selling results.
• Real-time sales updates for customers and prospects.

With a free trial, you should give the Professional Edition of Sales Navigator a try. Even if you’ve never used LinkedIn for a sales process in the past, this could be the push that you need to take full advantage in the future.

3. InsideSales.com

When it comes to sales lead management, there aren’t many companies that do it better than InsideSales.

There’s more to this company than meets the eye, thanks to its large list of features within its Playbooks offering.

The product manages leads, automates admin tasks, and uses data from 27 billion sales interactions to predict who, when, and how to engage with prospective customers to get the best outcome.

If you’re anything like me, you dig through mounds of data, in an attempt to learn more about your prospects. With this tool, you can better understand how leads are interacting with your business and empower your sales team to say the right thing at the right time.

4. Marketo Sales Connect

Are you interested in turning more sales prospects into customers?

Of course, you are. With the help of Marketo Sales Connect, you can equip yourself with the sales tools that you need to reach all of your sales team goals.

One of my favorite features is the ability to create a “pipeline playbook,” complete with all of the data that you and your team need to stay in touch with a contact throughout the sales process.

This feature provides several ways to improve your pipeline, such as:

• Integrated email and phone activities. With email and phone system integrations, it’s easier than ever for sales professionals to schedule meetings and communicate with other team members.
• Sales campaigns. Do you have trouble remaining consistent with your approach to prospecting? Marketo allows you to stay in touch with sales campaigns that include email, social media and phone, ensuring that everything and everybody are on the same page.

Also, Marketo offers email, website and document tracking tools. This allows you to track engagement, based on every type of communication including social media platforms. 

Not only is this done in real-time, but it provides you with actionable data that will help you make more informed sales decisions.

Last, but certainly not least, this is one of the top tools for sales team collaboration. If you have more than one person working on sales and marketing, you need a tool that keeps everyone on the same page. Marketo makes it simple to share updates with others in real-time.

At first, you may not use all of the tools provided by Marketo. However, as it becomes a bigger part of your sales strategy, you and your sales reps will turn to it more often.

5. Yesware

Have you set the goal of selling smarter? Do you even know what this means?

There are tools that are meant to save you time and money. Yesware is one of them.

There are several reasons why I recommend Yesware to entrepreneurs who want to sell smarter, but it all begins with its analytics tools.

You probably have what it takes to collect data, in regards to your prospects, the decision-maker and the sales cycle, but, do you know what to do next?

This is where Yesware steps in, to make your life easier.

With access to high-level, actionable insights, you’ll never again wonder what you’re supposed to do with the data that you’ve collected. Instead, you can share it with the appropriate team members, to ensure that everyone’s making the right moves.

The only downside of Yesware is that it can be difficult to fully understand its power and functionality until you have first-hand experience. Fortunately, once you get started, there’s no looking back with this sales process tool.

6. Calendly

What process are you using to schedule meetings with prospects?

In the past, the preferred option was email or a phone call. While there are still times when this works, you don’t want to overlook the power of an appointment scheduling tool, such as Calendly.

The nice thing about this tool is that it can be used to schedule anything and everything. From sales calls to sales meetings, from interviews to demos, it has all of the features that you require.

Calendly has several high-level competitors, but this solution remains my favorite, because of its ease of use for a variety of sales reps.

It all starts with setting your availability preferences. This shows others when you’re available to meet.

From there, all that you have to do is to share your personal link with your contacts or the prospective decision-maker.

For example, if you want to give somebody a sales demo, you can send them your link and ask that they select a time that works for them. This goes a long way in avoiding the traditional “back and forth,” often associated with scheduling a meeting.

One last thing worth noting is the team scheduling feature. With this, your team’s availability can be viewed from one page.

In addition to a free 14-day trial, there is a no-cost package that provides basic features.

With no money out of your pocket and a variety of high-level features, you should look into using Calendly. It will save you and your sales reps time in the sales process.

7. Zoom

Do you remember the days of meeting with prospects in person to conduct demos?

If you want to leave this experience in the past, at least to a certain degree, you should become familiar with Zoom.

There are many video and web conferencing services to compare, but through my experience Zoom is one of the best in digital marketing sales tools.

With more than 461,000+ customers, you know you’ll be in good hands if you rely on Zoom for your remote conferencing needs.

If that’s not enough to convince you, let’s examine some of its many features:

• Ability to host a meeting with or without video, or with screen share only.
• Mobile screen sharing for iPhone and iPad, making it easy to conduct meetings on the go.
• Webinar capabilities.
• Easy to share a meeting with one or more contact.
• Group collaboration.

On this page, Zoom lays out its many cloud video conferencing features, all of which you’ll enjoy. Some of my favorites include:

• HD video and voice
• dynamic voice detection
• full screen and gallery view

Another key feature is the ease with which the other party can join a meeting. Once you create a meeting, it’s as simple as inviting the other person. He or she can then access the event by entering the Meeting ID or Personal Link Name.

The process is simple and the technology is advanced. That’s what makes Zoom a top dog in the video and web conferencing space.

8. ClinchPad

Do you find yourself struggling to use your CRM software? Have you turned to a more simplified solution, such as a spreadsheet?

When the sales process is on your mind, the last thing that you need is trouble with your CRM solution.

ClinchPad is an online CRM, built for small teams that crave big results.

Not only is it easier to use than a traditional CRM, but it’s more advanced than a spreadsheet. Lying somewhere in between, many sales professionals find that it has all of the features they need, without overdoing it.

It’s hard to pinpoint one feature as being my favorite, but the Sales Dashboard is on par with the best that the CRM industry has to offer for sales professionals.

With all of the necessary data in one place, you’ll find that the Sales Dashboard feature saves you tons of time, while also helping you to stay up to speed with the sales cycle.

From prospects at the beginning of the cycle to deals that are about to close, everything that you need is right in front of you. And, best yet, you don’t have to jump from screen to screen to stay informed.

You can create a free account to get started. From there, if you like what you see, paid accounts start at $9/month.

9. Proposify

What is your current process for creating sales proposals?

Believe it or not, many companies are still using Microsoft Word, or a similar solution, to create proposals.

Even if this has worked for you in the past, you should consider a change. A switch to Proposify, or a similar solution, could do wonders for your close rate.

With this software, you can share beautifully created proposals with prospects in the cloud. In turn, you hope to close more deals in a more time-efficient manner.

Here are some of the many features that I like:

• Access to a variety of professionally designed templates.
• Drag and drop library for ease of management.
• Access to an online preview tool.
• Use of electronic signatures.
• The ability to track everything, knowing exactly where things stand in the sales pipeline.

The last feature is one of my favorites, as I always like to know what’s going on with a proposal.

You’ll gain access to metrics, such as how many proposals you’ve created, how many you’ve closed and your overall close rate.

If the lack of proposal software is holding your business back, let Proposify step in and be your guide. With a free trial and pricing starting at $25/month, it’s an affordable solution that can help boost your bottom line.

10. SalesLoft

Much the same as HubSpot, SalesLoft offers many tools to sales professionals and business owners.

In an overall sense, this tool is built to help you “increase qualified demos & appointments.”

While this sounds good, you need to learn more about its many options, to see what best fits your business.

Some of the features include:

• sales conversations
• deal forecasting
• analytics and reporting
• dialer and messenger
• cadence and automation

Thanks to a large selection of features, SalesLoft is one of the more advanced tools for a sales team on this list. However, even if you’re only going to use one of its products, there’s a good chance that it can do wonders for your sales strategy.

Sales Tools FAQ

What sales platform is the best?

Some of the best sales software options are SalesForce, ActiveCampaign, Hubspot, and Monday.com. The best one for you depends on your budget, business structure, and goals.

What tools do successful salespeople need?

The sales tools you’ll need are a CRM system, lead generation tools, conferencing software, sales automation tools, performance management tools, and sales and market intelligence tools.

What is the most effective tools for increasing sales?

Yesware, Hubspot, Salesforce, and even Slack can help you sell more. It just depends on which tool works best for your business.

What are sales productivity tools?

Examples of sales productivity tools include lead generation, CRM, video conferencing, meeting scheduler, proposal creation and eSigning software.

Conclusion

Just as there are many marketing tools that can help you reach your goals, the 10 sales solutions in this blog post will have you on a better path in the months to come.

As you know, the sales process is full of challenges. If you want to achieve more success than your competitors, take advantage of every tool and solution that is available to you.

Do you have experience with any of these sales tools? Would you add any others to the list?

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How to Do Quarterly Ad Planning

Perhaps you have a yearly marketing plan that provides an overview of the year. This can be helpful in understanding your overall goals but too vague to implement. That’s why a campaign plan with a narrower window—such as a quarter—is essential to marketing success.

A quarterly ad campaign plan provides a more granular view of your objectives, goals, and success. This will enable you to keep your priorities in line and respond accordingly to KPIs and metrics as results become available.

This in-depth guide provides actionable tips for successfully planning your quarterly ad campaign. By the end of this article, you will feel confident in your ability to create a thorough campaign plan you and your team can execute.

Review Last Quarter’s KPI and Metrics

The first step to future campaign planning is to look at the previous quarter’s performance. Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics, you can gain a deeper understanding of the success of previous campaigns.

The KPIs can vary depending on the marketing campaign and its ultimate purpose, but a few KPIs to consider closely are:

• customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• customer lifetime value (LTV)
• return on investment (ROI)
• marketing qualified lead (MQL)
• traffic-to-lead ratio (new contact rate)
• lead-to-customer ratio
• return on ad spend (ROAS)
• conversion rate
• website traffic
• customer retention

This list is a healthy mix of short-term and long-term KPIs, which is crucial to agile marketing. You don’t need to include all of them in your quarterly business review. Instead, you should focus on one or two that most closely align with each of your objectives. 

When choosing KPIs to track, ask yourself whether it is easily quantifiable and something you can influence. The more control you have over a KPI, the more valuable its inclusion in your performance tracking.

With the information above, you can make new quarterly campaign decisions based on what worked, what didn’t, and what ideas could have been better executed.

Set Campaign Goals and Metrics to Track

It’s not enough to create a plan. You should do so with specific goals in mind. However, setting marketing goals you can achieve requires an in-depth approach. I recommend the SMART method for goal setting. This stands for:

• specific
• measurable
• achievable
• relevant
• timebound

What does this look like for a marketing campaign? 

Let’s say you’re running a campaign with the overall goal of bringing more qualified leads into your funnel. A SMART goal might look like this:

“Increase the number of MQL’s in our funnel by 8 percent by the end of Q3 via a targeted social media campaign.”

This goal hits all of the marks of a SMART goal by being specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound. By the end of the campaign, you can easily answer yes or no on whether the goal was achieved. If not, you can reevaluate for the next quarter.

Evaluate Campaign Targeting

Your ad campaigns will only be as effective as the audience they reach. Identifying your target market is a crucial step in ensuring a successful quarterly campaign season.

You should first take a closer look at the data from your existing audience. This means digging in to further determine geography, age ranges, and lifestyle. How did your audience respond to the previous campaigns, and what can you do to improve those responses?

For example, did one segment of your audience interact with the campaign media but not convert? This indicates a surface-level interest. You should not abandon your efforts with this segment entirely but instead shift your objective to a higher level of the marketing funnel (e.g., attention or interest).

You may want to consider target audience expansion, too. Based on the previous quarter’s data, perhaps you found you were reaching demographics not previously on your radar. This would be a good time to reconsider the various segments of your target audience and add new ones if needed.

Fortunately, there are free tools like Google Analytics to help you further evaluate and segment your audience.

Decide Which Platforms to Use

The list of platforms is long and growing longer. The most popular platforms include Google, Facebook, Instagram, Bing, Amazon, and YouTube.

Before you choose which platforms to advertise with, though, you should first determine how many you will use.

With just one or two platforms, you can focus more intently on a more segmented part of your audience. This may result in a higher ROI. If your interest is more in testing various ad types and audience segments, though, then three, four, or even five platforms may be a good idea.

You should focus on quality as well as quantity. Each platform offers its own ad types, and using the right one for your audience is important. Google, for example, has eight different campaign types to choose from:

With so many platforms, you may feel compelled to spread your campaign budget across the spectrum. After all, doesn’t more platforms mean an increased reach? While true in theory, it’s more important to target the right audience.

Review Campaign Budget

You can make your ad campaigns effective, whether on a small or large budget. However, it’s essential to set the budget from the start so you can plan accordingly.

The different platforms will have different tips and tricks for budget optimization. Before you consider the specifics of your budget for each platform, though, you need to determine all-in advertising costs.

It helps to use a top-down approach. This means setting a maximum budget for the quarter that includes all advertising costs. You can then split the budget for each platform based on a few different factors, such as:

• previous platform success
• target market share
• ad type and opportunity

Even further, you can split the platform budget into per-advertisement costs. For example, spending more per day on a sale campaign can make more sense if the ROI is expected to be higher.

Outline Campaign Messages and Offers

While you don’t need to have all of the copy and digital assets completed before the quarter, you should have a solid idea of the campaign messages and offers. This outline will act as your framework for the work to come.

The outline can be a simple list of dates with corresponding messages and offers, or it can be baked into your workflow. The most important thing is to answer these three questions:

• Who is the target audience?
• What is the purpose of the advertisement?
• On what platform will this advertisement be displayed?

The more detailed your campaign messages and offers are at the outset, the easier it will be to plan your workflow. It also takes a lot of guesswork out of the process so the campaign goal is clear for all members of the marketing team. 

The drawback of being too detailed is the plan can feel a bit rigid. You should discuss internally just how detailed you want to get at the beginning of the quarter. Your team may prefer to flow a bit more freely, or they may prefer to have the campaigns locked in place 90 days in advance.

You can easily enter campaign details into a spreadsheet or word document. There are also more detailed campaign offer templates for those who prefer them. 

Create Asset Production Workflow

At the beginning of the quarter, the list of work to be done can be long and overwhelming. It’s at this point that establishing an effective workflow is crucial to future campaign success.

An asset production workflow ensures campaign assets (including copy, images, videos, and other digital elements) are completed on time. A good workflow ensures team collaboration and clear communication.

The workflow will vary depending on the type of asset and the number of collaborators. The basic steps of creative production include ideation, creation, review, approval, and launch.

You can manage these steps in a spreadsheet, though many project management platforms exist. These platforms often offer templates to spark your creativity.

Platforms like Trello and Asana enable you to create a seamless workflow. You can add multiple collaborators to each board, as well as use deadlines, checklists, and triggers to keep on task. These platforms help you focus more thoroughly on the process and less so on process management.

Create a Campaign Testing Plan

Testing your campaigns on an ongoing basis is important to future marketing optimization. The results of campaign testing provide insight into your target audience so you can better refine your marketing campaigns.

With this in mind, it’s important to include campaign testing within your overall campaign planning. This ensures assets are created early in the process and properly vetted.

A few examples of campaign tests include:

• target audience
• budget
• time of week and day
• calls to action (CTAs)
• word order
• power words in headlines

It can be tempting to perform campaign testing off-the-cuff. However, it’s best to plan for these tests at the outset and include them in your asset workflow. You can use the results of these tests going forward.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ad Campaign Planning

If you still have questions about ad campaign planning, take a look at the answers to these frequently asked questions on the topic.

How often should I review my ad campaign plan?

The quarterly planning session is important for setting the outline and goals of the quarter. It is important to reevaluate regularly throughout the quarter, though, and pivot as needed. You should look at least weekly at your campaign plan to determine success.

How early should I plan my ad campaigns for the holiday season?

When it comes to holiday ad planning, the earlier, the better. For best results, you should begin to plan the next holiday season as soon as the previous holiday season concludes. If you’re already behind, then you’ll want to keep it simple and be ready to adapt.

What should an ad campaign analysis include?

An ad campaign analysis should include at least three steps: review, take-aways, and next steps. This means you should review the results, highlight the key take-aways (i.e., what the results show worked and what didn’t), and outline recommended next steps (e.g., reevaluate how goals can be improved for the next quarter).

What type of objectives should I set for my ad campaigns?

When creating an ad campaign, you should do so with one key objective in mind. The objectives can be split into three categories: awareness, consideration, and conversion. An awareness campaign aims to increase reach, a consideration campaign aims to drive engagement, and a conversion campaign aims to drive conversions.

Quarterly Ad Campaign Planning Conclusion

When you transition to quarterly ad campaign planning, you will feel more confident in your ability to carry out and evaluate your marketing goals. This is true whether you are transitioning from an annual campaign plan, which can be too vague, or a weekly campaign plan, which can be too granular.

A quarterly campaign plan enables you to break down your goals, objectives, and budget into bite-sized chunks. This cuts down on the overwhelm while also providing flexibility.

More importantly, the 90-day window a quarterly campaign plan includes is just enough time to flawlessly execute while also evaluating your success along the way. This agile framework enables you to respond accordingly to the results of your campaign so you can become proactive. 

What objectives do you want to highlight with your next quarterly ad campaign plan?

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How to Drive Traffic with YouTube Live

As a marketer, you know how valuable audience connection is.

When you truly connect, you build trust and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases and interaction.

These days, there are more and more ways for marketers to reach their target audiences. From TikTok to in-feed Instagram ads, marketers are encountering never-before-seen amounts of opportunity for connection.

One of these opportunities is live functionality. Available on a slew of platforms, including Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, this feature allows users to live-stream to their followers.

Given that we know how successful video is as a content form, savvy marketers are making livestreams work for their campaigns. 

While the platforms mentioned above are pretty commonly used for live video, YouTube also shares this live-stream capability.

The video streaming giant offers streamers a unique platform to share information and grow brand awareness.

If you’re looking for new ways to connect with your target audience, read on to learn if YouTube Live is the right platform for you.

What Is YouTube Live and What Are the Benefits?

Much like many other live-streaming services, YouTube Live is YouTube’s livestream arm of its platform. Through this tool, you can reach your audience in real-time, allowing real-time connection.

Users seeking live content navigate to the Live section of the YouTube homepage to find your stream through search. Users can also discover your live stream if they’ve interacted with your account in the past, with your video manifesting on their individual homepage.

The benefits of YouTube Live are truly endless. Big brands like Bon Appetit have taken advantage of the platform, as have many smaller, non-franchised organizations.

Some of the key benefits include:

Connection With Your Audience

This is a big one. The reason all-live everything is so successful is that it enables face-to-face connection through a screen. By enabling the chat function, you can connect directly with your audience, answering questions, and building relationships and goodwill.

Brand Establishment

Seventy percent of viewers bought from a brand after seeing it on YouTube. When you go live on the platform, you’re not extending brand exposure, you’re establishing your brand as an accessible entity with a notable, reachable figure hosting live events.

Cost-Effective Production

You can use YouTube Live for the cost of an account, which is free.

Given that your video doesn’t require any pre- or post-production, you also save on hefty fees often associated with video creation.

Collaboration With Other YouTubers

While this function is often overlooked, YouTube Live was the first of the live streaming social platforms to enable collaboration.

Through this function, you can cross-promote with another local business or team up to do a giveaway. This capability also allows you to host guests, giving you the opportunity to widen your audience reach by promoting an out-of-house individual’s presence.

How to Use YouTube Live

With more than two billion active users worldwide, YouTube should be a go-to destination for marketers.

If you’ve never planned around live marketing, the thought of executing a YouTube Live strategy can be, well, intimidating.

However, it doesn’t have to be.

YouTube Live offers users two different types of live streams, simple and custom.

Simple

With this straightforward delivery, you can go live from your webcam or phone (this is contingent upon having over 1,000 followers). Much like other livestreaming platforms, the simple mode is great for doing a basic Q&A or sharing a presentation.

Custom

This delivery mode is much more complex because it meets the needs of more complex presentations. For example, if you want to share your screen or use multiple web cameras, you need an encoder to make this happen. While these two categories are broken out to be opposites of one another, don’t let the term complex alarm you—the custom stream is still pretty easy to achieve.

Much like any other marketing campaign, your YouTube Live strategy should be well-planned and have goals in place.

Before you hit golive on your YouTube homepage, be sure you’ve strategized accordingly.

3 Ways to Drive More Traffic Using YouTube Live

If you’ve identified the need to grow more traffic as one of your top goals, (and let’s be honest, who among us doesn’t want more traffic), YouTube Live is an excellent platform for sending more visitors to your site.

Below, we break down three strategies that can help you harness the power of YouTube Live to score more traffic.

1. Create a Promotional Plan

You know the saying: if a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, did it even make a sound?

The same goes for your YouTube Live: if you don’t promote your live event, how will anyone know to show up.

The same amount of forethought and strategizing you reserve for other marketing campaigns should go into your livestream.

Here are our three best tips for making your next livestream a hit.

Schedule Your YouTube Live Video

After you’ve established the goal of your YouTube Live video, you need to schedule a date and time so you can promote your livestream to followers and prospects alike.

Socialize Your YouTube Live Video

You want to be promoting your YouTube Live video everywhere. From your social channels to your email contacts, you need to share the who, what, when, why, and where to all followers and prospects.

Build a Retargeting Ads Campaign

Think your work is done after your live stream wraps? Think again. Use retargeting ads on social and other platforms to reach liver stream attendees and remind them to take action.

2. Share Valuable Content

We’ve alluded to the need for a clearly delineated value of your YouTube Live for your audience.

To gain someone’s most valuable asset (hint: it’s their time), you must offer them something valuable in exchange.

Whether that’s a demo of a software upgrade or an unboxing video of the new prints your store is now offering shoppers, be sure that your content is doing more than just making noise.

3. Get Smart About Your CTA

When filing a YouTube Live video, you want to have a very precise call to action (CTA). While we wish there were a silver bullet that would encourage all viewers to take the desired action, choosing your ideal CTA takes some planning.

First, you need to assess what you want viewers to do after viewing your video. Ask yourself:

• Do I want my viewer to make a purchase?
• Do I want my viewer to schedule a demo?
• Do I want my viewer to watch more of my videos?
• Do I want my viewer to follow me on social channels?

After answering this question, you can determine which CTA is most appropriate for your viewers and incorporate it into the conclusion of your video.

To reiterate, be sure to identify where your viewers are in the buyer’s journey and use a CTA that resonates with that respective stage.

Make the Most of Your YouTube Live Content

You did it. You succeeded in hosting your first YouTube live. You got a bunch of new followers on Twitter, so now you’re done with that content, right?

Wrong.

Now that you’ve created a video asset, you can turn that YouTube Live video into a wealth of evergreen content.

Below are a few ideas for making your YouTube Live video work as hard as you do.

• Turn your live stream into a typical video and share it on your website.
• Share interesting segments of your live stream on social media. Pull quotes from your live stream and share them on social media.
• Edit the audio from your YouTube Live stream into an audio podcast.

These possibilities represent only four of the myriad options you have for repurposing content. We’ve talked about how valuable video is, so be sure not to let it go to waste.

Frequently Asked Questions About Using YouTube Live to Drive Traffic

What is YouTube Live?

YouTube Live is the video streaming giant’s live platform. Users can go live to audiences, streaming in real-time. This channel can be used for Q&As, unboxing videos, how-to guides, and more. 

Is YouTube Live good for marketing?

Yes! Video of all kinds performs incredibly well with audiences. And with 81 percent of Americans using YouTube, you’re actively doing your brand a disservice if you’re not advertising on YouTube in some function. In addition, you can repurpose content from your YouTube Live across other channels, creating an evergreen marketing asset. 

What equipment do I need to do YouTube Live?

For simple live streaming, you only need a webcam or a phone. If you’re looking for more complex functionality from YouTube Live, like multiple cameras, you’re going to need an encoder.

How can I repurpose my YouTube Live content?

You can repurpose your YouTube Live content in so many different ways. From bite-sized video clips on Instagram to a full-fledged podcast episode, the opportunities for repurposing are endless.

How to Drive Traffic With YouTube Live Conclusion

While Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and many other platforms offer live streaming, YouTube Live grants you access to the massive YouTube audience.

As you plan your YouTube Live campaign be sure to be strategic about promotion, content, and your final CTA.

If you improvise any of these aspects of your live stream, you likely won’t have your desired impact and run the risk of alienating your audience.

Before embarking on your YouTube Live journey, be sure to research and watch other live streams from brands within your industry. By learning what works and what does not, you can tailor your video around their mistakes, ultimately allowing your brand to outshine your competition.

What’s the best YouTube Live video you’ve ever watched and why was it successful?

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How to Translate Foot Traffic Into Digital Sales

As an entrepreneur, the move towards e-commerce and digital transformation shouldn’t pass you by. The good news is that as a brick-and-mortar business owner, you can promote your website to the foot traffic in and around your store to aid your online visibility and increase digital sales.

Perhaps your biggest advantage is you don’t need to spend quite so long building the relationships that turn people into buyers: you’ve already done that. 

Shoppers coming into your store know you, trust you, and are more likely to purchase from you. Also, the surrounding foot traffic is at least familiar with your business, even if they haven’t bought anything from you yet.

Now comes the question: How do you turn your foot traffic into more digital sales? 

Whether your website is fresh up or you’ve been running your website for some time, the techniques featured in this article are open to everyone.

First, let’s look at the two main different types of retail traffic along with their advantages and disadvantages.

Foot Traffic Vs. Online Traffic: What Are the Pros and Cons

When we talk about foot traffic, we mean the number of people coming into your store and those who walk nearby. It has always been an important measure of retail success, and naturally, the more foot traffic an area has, the more chances there are to make sales.

Each type of traffic has its pros and cons. 

With regular foot traffic, the advantages are it:

• allows businesses to see and interact with customers personally
• can generate word-of-mouth advertising and, in turn, repeat customers through recommendations
• enables face-to-face sales, which many consumers are more comfortable with
• allows customers to ask questions directly and get immediate answers

However, there are also disadvantages to foot traffic. The most significant disadvantage is the decline. According to RetailNext, recent Black Friday figures were down 48 percent, and this is a trend that’s likely to continue as more consumers turn to e-commerce.

There are other disadvantages too, such as:

• It’s weather dependent. Fewer shoppers are out about when the weather’s bad or the heat’s too intense.
• There are declining brick-and-mortar sales. 

Consumers who use e-commerce benefit from the convenience and special offers available online. However, the growth in online sales is good for website owners too. 

The main advantages of online traffic include:

• There’s a constant flow of visitors to your store anytime, even when you’re sleeping.
• It provides targeted reach.
• There are little to no geographical limitations.
• Tracking allows you to spot patterns and refine your marketing strategy.

Disadvantages of online traffic include:

• It takes time to get established online.
• There is over-reliance on technology.
• Changing algorithms mean you can lose your position in search engines.
• It costs money to keep getting fresh visitors to your store.

8 Ways to Convert Foot Traffic Into Digital Sales

No store owner can afford to ignore the potential of digital sales. E-commerce has dominated the retail sector for years now, and that’s not going to change, according to forecasts.

According to statistics, e-commerce sales are likely to reach 563.4 billion dollars by 2025, and your online business can benefit from this surge.

1. Advertise Your Online Presence

You’ve got customers coming into your store every day. Make sure they know about your website and social media presence by advertising your digital channels around the store. 

Don’t go too crazy, though. 

There’s no need for giant banners with “find us online @” written on them. Instead, be a little more discreet. For instance, you could:

• Add your website URL and social media pages to receipts.
• Include business cards with a discount code when packing bags. 
• Put your online details on any packaging.
• Include small plaques on shelving around the store with your online information.
• Advertise details on any outside signage and in your windows for passing foot traffic to see.

Also, if you have any special internet offers, promote them through in-store advertising and handing out promotional materials. Add an incentive to spur interest.

2. Advertise Online-Only Sales

Many people have two things in common: they love a bargain and have a fear of missing out (FOMO). According to the stats:

• Sixty-nine percent of millennials have FOMO.
• Wealthier households are more likely to experience FOMO.
• Social media is a major contributor.

FOMO is a proven psychological tactic for driving sales. That’s why offering online-only items or special discounts can be an effective profit booster for your business, especially when you include a time limit on the offers.

E-commerce companies like Sleeknote use this approach, creating a sense of urgency to get consumers to sign up.

Another benefit of this approach is that buyers are only too keen to tell their friends and families about the great deal they got. This could mean even more visitors to your digital platforms.

When doing this kind of promotion, be sure to spread the word among your offline customers with leaflets or small cards and a promotion code so you can track your campaign’s success.

3. Offer Free Shipping Discount Codes

One deal-breaker for consumers is shipping costs. Eighty-two percent of shoppers hate them and prefer free shipping overpaid expedited options.

To overcome this obstacle, why not offer a free shipping discount code?

Once customers get to your website, sign up and register, it’s easier to engage them and build relationships by sending targeted offers. They also get to realize the benefits of online shopping.

If it makes sense, you could also offer free shipping on orders of a minimum value for future orders to further engage and encourage your customers to purchase.

4. Offer Incentives for Connecting on Social Media

Sometimes customers just need a nudge. They might have meant to check out your business on social media but just haven’t got around to it yet.

What can you do to get buyers to visit your social media platforms? You create incentives. They can be in the form of coupons, freebies, contests, and prizes.

You could also offer points or a percentage off if your customer shares your social media pages with others or gets a friend to sign up to your digital channels. 

5. Highlight Exclusive Online-Only Products

Let’s go back to FOMO just for a moment. 

Arguably, FOMO has done a lot to keep the retail industry alive, especially on major shopping occasions, like Black Friday.

E-commerce store owners often use FOMO to secure more sales, and there are multiple other ways you can use it in your marketing campaigns.

By offering exclusive online-only products, you’re giving shoppers the reason they need to head to your website and sign up.

However, FOMO has a downside, too. 

It can lead to impulsive buying by consumers. That’s not what you or your business needs: you want customers that keep coming back for more. 

Also, it could be damaging to the overall customer experience, so use this strategy with care.

6. Cross-promote With Other Store Owners

If another local store has a product that complements yours, then you may find cross-promoting each other’s products/services is mutually beneficial.

For example, an organic store selling nutritious foods and natural skincare products could pair with a local beauty salon or a gym.      

You promote their online offerings and digital platforms in your store, and they do the same in their premises. 

Perhaps take this a step further and collaborate with other local store owners to create a co-branded coupon with local businesses’ online details.

This approach can reach a broader scope of foot traffic, potentially leading to more visitors to your website and increased digital sales.

7. Use In-store Events

In-store promotions have been around for years, and they’re a staple of retail marketing. The goal of in-store promotion is to:

• increase customer traffic 
• improve brand awareness
• create awareness for new products
• get people talking

By creating a buzz, an in-store promotion attracts foot traffic from regular customers and possibly from passersby. 

These events give consumers the chance to visit a store, check out products, and get to know you. They also give you the opportunity to promote your online channels and give out promotional materials directing people to your website. 

Additionally, in-store promotions help with word of mouth, build customer loyalty, and you also have some flexibility regarding the style of the event.

Depending on what you want to achieve, your promotion could be:

• educational
• luxurious
• experimental 
• holiday-themed

Alternatively, you could take the Ikea approach and create a bring a friend event. Ikea asked people to “like” their Facebook page if they wanted to access the special offers only available to attendees who brought a friend along.

You can use such events to promote your store in other ways too. For example, you could invite visitors to take pictures or videos and share them on your digital channels to promote your brand further online.

8. Hand Out Flyers

Go wider and make the most of the foot traffic outside of your door. Flyers are one of the oldest forms of advertising, and they still work.

Hand out flyers to passersby highlighting your special deals and internet-only products to passersby. However, be sure to check if it’s permissible locally before you do.

You can then use this as an opportunity to introduce yourself to potential customers and tell them about your business and the advantages of buying from you online.

You can also:

• pin flyers to local community boards
• advertise in your store windows 
• keep a pile of flyers on your counter for shoppers to take
• include flyers in your customer’s grocery bags

Finally, offer discounts to anyone that signs up and include a code for people to use so you can track success.

Frequently Asked Questions About Foot Traffic

How can I use my website for more foot traffic?

You can use your website to attract extra foot traffic for a further business boost. Consider inviting people to buy online and pick up in-store, providing in-store redeemable coupons, and offering in-store exchanges and returns.

What’s the best way to track the success of my campaigns?

You can add codes to any flyers, cards, or other promotional materials that you put out or ask customers how they found you when they registered online.

How can I improve my foot traffic offline?

By using signage, introducing a loyalty program, marketing, and social media. However, remember that these tactics take time, so they may not increase your foot traffic immediately.

How does foot traffic increase sales?

The more foot traffic you have, the greater the opportunity for engagement and sales, helping boost your revenues.

Foot Traffic Conclusion

As a store owner, you’re in the unique position to start sending customers directly to your website to increase your digital sales.

You don’t need to rely on them finding you by chance, and you don’t have to take so much time building trust because these buyers already know you.

That gives you a perfect chance to start actively promoting your website to the foot traffic in and around your store.

There are plenty of strategies you can use to do this. For example, offering incentives to get consumers to sign up to your social channels, holding in-store promotions to highlight online-only products and give demonstrations, and advertising your store on your packaging materials and receipts.

Are you a store owner? How do you get your foot traffic to find you online?

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