Originally published on Inc.com.
David Finkel, bestselling author and CEO of Maui Mastermind, has been a regular contributor to Inc. Magazine for over a decade. 
This article is one of his latest pieces featured by Inc.

Marketing often feels like a guessing game—especially for owners of small to medium-size businesses who don’t have a large, specialized team. I’ve watched many talented entrepreneurs rely on “random acts of marketing”—trying one ad campaign, dabbling in social media, and then moving on to something else. 

This scattershot approach yields erratic results and leaves you unsure whether your efforts—or dollars—are actually moving the needle. The solution? Establish a straightforward system to track, measure, and optimize your marketing strategy so you can achieve reliable, repeatable success.

One client I worked with ran a thriving medical practice but struggled with feast-or-famine marketing. Some months, patients poured in. Other months, the waiting room was noticeably empty. Together, we mapped out all his lead sources—referrals from other doctors, community events, and online advertising—and set up simple tracking mechanisms. Then, we were able to see precisely which tactics brought in the highest-quality patients. More important, we could spot when a specific avenue stopped working and quickly pivot to re-energize it or allocate budget elsewhere.

Clarify your goals. 

The first step in controlling your marketing strategy is clarifying your goals. Instead of vague objectives like “more leads,” define specific targets: “attract 20 new clients monthly” or “increase sales by 15 percent in Q4.” When you have a concrete, measurable outcome in mind, you avoid impulsive campaigns that consume time and money without boosting key metrics.

Track your marketing channels. 

Next, decide how many marketing channels you can realistically manage. If you can handle only one or two at the moment—say, direct email outreach and paid search ads—focus on refining them before adding others to the mix.

Tracking is vital. Whether you use a simple spreadsheet or a robust customer relationship management platform, you need a way to see what’s working. If you advertise online, tools like Google Analytics or built-in social media dashboards offer valuable insights. Offline, it might be as simple as asking new customers how they heard about your business and logging those answers for review each week. Just make sure your tracking is consistent—partial data or one-off surveys won’t help you plan effectively.

Analyze the data.

Another key part of a marketing strategy – as you gather data, look for patterns. A furniture retailer I coached realized that his Sunday newspaper insert consistently drove local foot traffic, but only when combined with a limited-time promotion. By comparing weekly numbers, he discovered that the same print ads without a “sale deadline” performed far worse. With this information, he fine-tuned future campaigns, doubling down on Sunday ads featuring a clear call to action and scrapping smaller, unproductive mid-week inserts.

Create a clear message. 

Don’t neglect the basics of good messaging. No amount of analytics will help if your marketing strategy doesn’t resonate. Ensure your core message is clear and compelling: highlight the problems you solve, the benefits you deliver, and why you’re different from the competition. Keep testing headlines, visuals, and offers until you see engagement climb.

Review marketing performance.

Finally, set a routine to regularly review your marketing performance. Ideally, you or a small team should meet monthly to discuss wins, failures, and next steps. This ensures that you maintain momentum instead of drifting back into haphazard efforts. By systematically focusing on measurable goals, diligent tracking, and targeted improvements, you can transform a patchy marketing strategy into a stable engine for driving consistent results—and sustainable growth.

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