In gambling there is the overused cliché - quit while you're ahead.

This doesn't really work in marketing because if something is going well, then it's silly to stop doing it. If paid search is consistently generating qualified leads that become profitable customers, stopping investment will likely reduce those enquiries and interrupt the revenue flowing through the business.

The more apt term in relation to marketing would be - quit when it stops performing.

This doesn’t mean stopping investment as soon as one LinkedIn post flops, or pulling the plug on an SEO campaign after one month because you’re still on page two of Google. It means recognising when continued investment is no longer justifiable, when it's no longer contributing commercially.

That requires staying aware of how your marketing is performing, regularly comparing it with relevant benchmarks and agreed objectives so you can distinguish between a bad week and a failing strategy.

You don't have unlimited resources. You wish you did, but you don't.

So you need to put your investment where it will have the greatest impact.

And in order to do that, you need three things:

  1. Historical channel analysis
  2. Commercial awareness
  3. A bit of luck

Commercial awareness takes work because markets, customers and competitors don’t stand still. You won’t always have a complete picture, but you can keep improving your understanding of what is happening around your business.

Luck is certainly welcome when it appears, but you can't build a strategy round it.

Historical channel analysis gives you evidence to work from. It helps you understand how your marketing has performed, where results have changed and which activities deserve a closer look.

But those findings need context. Something that worked two years ago might no longer suit your offer, your customers or the direction of the business.

The value comes from understanding your past performance alongside your current commercial position. Together, they give you a stronger basis for deciding what to do next.

You have to know where you have been to know where you should be going

Analysing your reports shouldn't be something you do every now and then. It should be a routine part of your work.

Even five minutes in the morning can help you spot an unexpected change or something that needs investigating. But decisions about where to invest need a longer view.

Give each activity reasonable time to demonstrate its contribution, accounting for its objective, the length of your sales process and seasonal changes. A daily check can flag a concern; a more considered review helps you understand whether it warrants action.

That also means looking at how channels work together. An activity may help someone discover or consider your business even if another channel gets the credit for the eventual enquiry or purchase.

Regular review gives you a better understanding of your marketing and allows for more informed decisions about budget allocation. Because what’s the point in spending months getting next year’s budget approved only to put the money back into something that hasn’t been working?

But if it's not contributing, why keep doing it?

Don't feel obliged to stick to a strategy to "see it through".

Don't feel obliged to keep creating blog posts because you've just taken on another copywriter.

Don't feel obliged to continue on the same course because that was the overarching trajectory.

You have to know when to quit

Knowing when to quit starts with understanding why performance has changed.

If you’ve noticed declining purchases from email, that gives you a reason to investigate.

You might need to clean your list, improve the relevance of your content or review the offer and buying experience. If your audience no longer reflects the customers you want to reach, attracting suitable new subscribers might deserve more attention.

But building a lead magnet or stopping an email flow before understanding the problem risks spending more time and money without addressing the cause.

Your metrics help you identify where to investigate. What you find should guide what happens next.

It could be that the whole channel needs to be stopped

Say you've been operating in a B2C market and did great work selling through social media.

But then the business gets shaken up and you're now selling to distributors.

Your audience and buying process have changed. That gives you a reason to reassess the role social media plays.

How do those distributors find potential suppliers? What information do they need before making contact? Does your existing social activity help with that process, or support consumer demand that matters to those distributors?

Investigating those questions helps you decide whether social needs a different approach, a smaller budget or no further investment. It also helps you assess which other activities deserve those resources.

Business models can change. When they do, you need to revisit what your marketing is expected to achieve and whether the current approach still supports it.

Turning the evidence into a decision

You probably have years of data across a multitude of channels and platforms. There may be plenty of reports telling you what happened, while leaving you unsure about what to do next.

Deciding what to do next means understanding how the evidence relates to your business, your offer, your customers and your market. It also means being willing to go against the grain and question activities that have become familiar, even when the business invests heavily in them.

This is exactly what our strategy engagements are designed to do.

We bring an independent perspective to your business and marketing, examining the evidence behind your approach and identifying where your investment could have the greatest impact.

You come away with priorities and recommendations on what to continue, what to improve and where to change course.

Knowing when to stop is part of that. Knowing what deserves your investment is just as important.