If you have kids in school, then you know this time of the year is “parent-teacher conference” season.  Even my 22-month-old daughter, Violet, who is in nursery school, had the day off on Tuesday for conferences.

On one hand, it’s annoying to stop the daily routine for a day and meet with the teachers.  There’s also a bit of anxiety and fear about what kind of feedback you’ll receive about your child.  Has she been behaving like a good girl or do we need to “work on a few things?”  I’m happy to announce that the list of things to work on was small for Violet. :)

On the other hand, the concept of the parent-teacher conference is absolutely necessary, and every business should adopt a similar system for managing their marketing.

In this article, I’ll explain why…

Parent-Teacher Conference

 

The Scheduled Time-Out

Let’s face it, if the parent-teacher conference wasn’t scheduled and set in stone, then most of us would not find time to sit down with the teachers.  Days and weeks fly by and before you know it we’re gearing up for summer vacation.  Since the date is set and meeting times are scheduled far in advance, there’s no excuse and we’re forced to take the time out.

This same approach is required in business and marketing.  If you don’t lock down a date in advance when you’re going to review your KPIs (key performance metrics), then guess what? It’s probably not going to happen.  The teacher in this analogy is our marketing data and we’re the busy parents who aren’t going to sit down and listen without a little force.

All it takes is a little planning ahead to block off the appropriate days/times to review your marketing.  I know it’s annoying to take the time out, but it’s the best way to determine if your marketing campaigns are misbehaving, and how to correct them.

 

Review Key Milestones & Trust Your Own Data

At Violet’s parent-teacher conference, we learned about a few key milestones like transitioning to a “big girl” bed and when to introduce potty training.  These are big milestones in our house and I was eager to hear what the teachers had to say.  I could read all the books in the world on these topics, but let’s face it: the nursery school teachers are living and breathing this stuff every day.  They are the experts and I trust their judgement.

With marketing milestones, again, the teacher is our analytics data.  The data will tell us when we hit key milestones and when we’re ready to expand to new tactics.  Just because you heard another business was using a certain tactic doesn’t mean it’s a good opportunity for you.  That’s like thinking your kid is ready for potty training just because someone else in the class in doing it.

 

Make Adjustments & Set the Next Date

There are a few adjustments we’re going to make in order to help Violet’s growth.  One of our big goals is to transition her out of the crib and into a bed by the end of the year.   We learned that’s a prerequisite for potty training so that she could get up and go to the bathroom on her own.  Our goal is to have this transition 100% complete by the next parent-teacher conference in the Spring.

Without the meeting earlier this week, we would not have known that we are ready to make this adjustment.  Plus, the next conference is a built-in deadline that helps with accountability.  We don’t want to show up to the next meeting without hitting our fairly straightforward goal.

See how you can apply this to your marketing?  When you take the time to review your marketing campaigns, then you’ll see where you need to make adjustments.  That could be reallocating your budget from one tactic to another, or it could be refocusing your attention from generating traffic to improving your website conversions.  It all depends on your situation and what your analytics data (your teacher) is telling you.

You’re Invited…

If you’d like to learn more about using analytics to grow your business, register for our upcoming LIVE training…

“Introduction to Google Analytics”

Thursday, November 20th at 12pm – 1:30pm Eastern time

Click here to learn more and register

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