As the new year casts off from the docks and we launch into our marketing, make sure to run down this brief checklist to ensure your marketing is seaworthy. Is this a comprehensive list? Not at all. But this is the bare minimum to ensure you’re not leaving the dock with gaping holes in the hull, taking on water the moment you cast off.

Email

Have you:

• Cleaned your lists of non-deliverable addresses?
• Checked your DNS settings for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC changes?
• Checked your email provider for blacklisting?
• Enrolled in your own nurture/drip campaigns to see if they still make sense?
• Refreshed your messaging?

Social

Have you:

• Refreshed your influencer lists?
• Run your posts from the last 90 days through sentiment and tone analysis to ensure you’re speaking with a voice aligned to your brand?
• Replied and responded to all recent customer/audience messages?

Organic Search

Have you:

• Run a site audit in the last 90 days?
• Checked your site in Search Console/Webmaster Tools for errors?
• Run a mobile/responsive check?
• Implemented accelerated mobile pages?
• Refreshed your keyword/topic lists?

Referral

Have you:

• Chatted with your PR team/agency about upcoming stories?
• Used a competitive SEO tool to find out where competitors are earning news?
• Reached out to your friendly journalists/media contacts and established contact after the holidays?

Advertising

Have you:

• Refreshed your ad creatives?
• Refreshed your messaging?
• Checked your bid amounts and caps?
• Checked your audience quality and targeting?

Analytics

Have you:

• Validated that your analytics tags are on all your pages?
• Validated that your analytics tags are all firing correctly?
• Switched to a tag manager?
• Read any of the reports your systems generate at least once, thoroughly?

Infrastructure

Have you:

• Ensured all forms are posting data correctly to your marketing automation software?
• Updated all your software to current versions?
• Checked your domain registrations for expirations?

Do the Basics Right

As I said at the beginning, this is not an exhaustive list. This is more like a vehicle maintenance checkup, an inspection you should conduct once per quarter.

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You might also enjoy:

• Is Social Listening Useful?
• Best Practices for Public Speaking Pages
• How to Set Your Public Speaking Fee
• Understand the Meaning of Metrics
• You Ask, I Answer: Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics Integration?

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