Most of have an established set of meeting rhythms within our business – with our direct reports, our managers, and your teammates. And there’s a reason for that – it keeps everyone on the same page, flags issues, creates opportunity for support, and improves the overall momentum of the company.
But what meeting rhythm do you have your business planning? At our agency, we have a quarterly off-site meeting with our executive team. It’s led by our EOS Implementer, who essentially serves as our business coach. It’s a productive time for us to get away from the office, reflect on the previous quarter, and plan for the upcoming quarter. This is a key piece to our planning.
If you don’t currently have a rhythm for business planning, I recommend at least an end-of-year and a mid-year check-in and planning session.
5 questions to help you evaluate the front half and prepare for the back half
1. Are You Tracking the Right KPIs?
Vanity metrics can feel good, but they don’t always tell the full story. Website traffic, social media impressions, and engagement numbers have their place, but are they translating into meaningful business results?
Refocus on the KPIs that connect directly to your goals: qualified leads, pipeline growth, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and retention. If a metric looks impressive but doesn’t help you make a better business decision, question why you’re tracking it.
2. Is Your Messaging Still Resonating?
What worked in January might be falling flat today. Customer needs change, competitors adjust their positioning, and the problems your audience cares about can evolve.
Revisit your audience’s pain points, your value propositions, and the messages you’re consistently communicating. Talk with your sales team about what they’re hearing from prospects and customers. Your messaging should reflect what your customers need to hear, not simply what you want to say.
3. What Channels Are Underperforming?
Not every marketing channel deserves the same investment, and what worked last year may not be delivering the same results today.
Look at where you’re spending your time and money compared to the results each channel produces. Are your paid campaigns generating qualified opportunities? Is your email marketing driving engagement? Is your content attracting the right audience?
Don’t wait until December to make changes. Refine what’s showing potential, reconsider what’s consistently underperforming, and invest more heavily in what is producing results. Just because you’ve always done something doesn’t mean you should keep doing it.
4. Are We Aligned Across Departments?
Marketing can’t operate in a silo. Some of the biggest missed opportunities happen when marketing, sales, operations, and leadership are working toward different priorities.
Your mid-year review should include more than the marketing team. Does sales believe marketing is attracting the right prospects? Does operations have the capacity to deliver on what marketing is promoting? Is leadership communicating where the business needs to grow?
Marketing should support the direction of the business, not operate as a separate initiative. When everyone understands the priorities, your marketing becomes significantly more effective.
5. What Did We Actually Learn in the First Half of the Year?
Every campaign, initiative, and investment should teach you something. The question is whether you’re taking the time to capture those lessons and apply them.
What exceeded expectations? What fell short? What surprised you about customer behavior? Which assumptions proved wrong? And perhaps most importantly, what would you do differently knowing what you know today?
Document those insights and use them to shape your Q3 and Q4 priorities. Experience only becomes valuable when you allow it to influence what you do next.
Don’t Just Continue. Recalibrate.
It’s easy to get caught up in the pace of running a business and simply carry the same activities, budgets, and priorities into the second half of the year.
But activity doesn’t always equal progress.
July is your opportunity to evaluate what’s working, confront what isn’t, and make intentional decisions about where to focus your efforts.
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