Fix Broken Marketing Before It Burns Your Budget
- Volodymyr Shalayko
- Apr 1
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 20
Tracking what’s working in your marketing—and what’s quietly wasting your budget—takes time, but skipping it is how businesses end up wasting money on a mishmash of tactics that bring in zero qualified prospects. You know it’s important. It just keeps falling to the bottom of the to-do list.
Even if you’ve invested in a fancy marketing analytics tracking tool that integrates with all your platforms—Google Analytics, Search Console, Mailchimp, Instagram, everything—that dashboard isn’t going to magically tell you what to do next.
Tools give you data. You still need a system to actually look at it consistently and make decisions before things go wrong.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." - W. Edwards Deming
Eliminate Guesswork with Consistent Tracking
Set a regular review schedule. Daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly check-ins might sound excessive, but breaking it up like this helps you stay sane while staying sharp.
Daily - Spot anything weird or broken. Ads not working? Email bounce rate suddenly up? Catch it now, not next month.
Weekly - Look at campaign performance. What’s converting? What isn’t? Make small adjustments instead of big, expensive fixes later.
Monthly - Identify patterns. Do certain messages land better? Which channels bring in the best quality leads? Use this to tweak your strategy.
Quarterly - Zoom out. What’s actually driving growth? Where should you double your efforts, and what needs to go?
It’s less about obsessing over every click and more about staying alert to make smart calls without panicking.
Daily: Spot Potential Issues Early
Daily tracking ensures you catch the things that quietly derail your marketing. A few minutes each day keeps your strategy from falling off a cliff.
Website traffic, engagement, and conversions
Check Google Analytics to see how people are moving through your site. If a campaign suddenly flatlines, you’ll know before you waste time and money.
Email open rates and click-throughs
Daily checks help you identify the subject lines and content that actually get clicks—and which flop. It’s easier to adjust when you're not staring at a month’s worth of “meh.”
Social media engagement
Trends move fast. If one post is taking off or another fails, you’ll see it in real time and can make changes accordingly. Timing, tone, visuals—it all matters.
Ad performance
Daily tracking shows you when ads are hitting, or missing. If Tuesday mornings always perform better, now you know when to ramp up efforts.
Website performance
Technology breaks. Links die. Pages slow down. A quick daily scan saves you from finding out three weeks later that your “Contact Us” form hasn’t worked since Tuesday.
Weekly: Make Small Fixes
Weekly reviews are where you shift from reacting to actually improving. You’ve got enough data to spot patterns, but things are still fresh enough to fix before they turn into real problems.
Pull together data from all your marketing channels
Take a look across email, ads, social, and your site. What moved the needle this week? What didn’t? You’re not looking for perfection—just patterns.
Spot wins and weak points in your lead generation
If leads are slowing down, is it the message? The offer? The targeting? Look at the whole path, not just the final conversion.
Run A/B tests on emails, ads, or landing pages
Don’t wait months to test something new. Try a different headline. Switch up your CTA. See what gets people to act.
Make tactical adjustments
If something’s clearly underperforming, fix it now. Change the copy. Shift the budget. Pause what's not working instead of letting it limp along.
Review sales and outreach efforts
Marketing gets prospects to book an appointment, now check in on how prospects are being handled once they come in. Are follow-ups happening? Are conversions falling through the cracks?
Monthly: Step Back and Assess What’s Actually Working
This is your once-a-month reality check. What’s creating real opportunities—and what’s just keeping you busy?
Review lead generation progress and key metrics
Look at what came in, where it came from, and whether it turned into anything real. If you’re getting clicks but no calls, something’s off.
Get feedback from customers or prospects
Ask the people you’re trying to reach. What made them reach out? What held them back? You don’t need a survey—just a few honest conversations go a long way.
Look at ROI across your marketing efforts
Are you spending time or money on something that hasn’t paid off in weeks? Cut it or fix it. You don’t have time for dead weight.
Adjust your budget and focus for next month
Don’t stick to a plan just because you made it. Shift budget, time, or energy toward what’s actually working—even if it’s not what you planned to do.
Quarterly: Align Strategy with Business Goals
Quarterly reviews are your chance to pause, take a breath, and make the bigger decisions that shape the direction of your strategy. This is where you stop reacting and start steering. Take an hour to see what’s changing in your industry. Trends. Tech. Your competitors. Stay sharp without chasing shiny tactics.
Look at the big picture of your lead generation
What actually worked over the past few months? Not just clicks or impressions—what brought in real customers? What felt like a lot of effort for nothing?
Figure out which channels and tactics are worth keeping
If Instagram brought in three leads and referrals brought in 30, you know where to focus. This is when you stop spreading yourself thin.
Set new goals based on real results
Forget what you hoped would happen. Look at what did happen, and set goals based on that. Growth doesn’t have to be huge—it just has to be real.
Scale what’s working
If a channel or campaign is bringing in solid leads, do more of it. Whether that’s upping ad spend, sending more emails, or just asking for more referrals—this is how you build momentum.
Stay current on your industry
You don’t have to chase every trend, but you do need to know what’s changing. Spend an hour reading, listening, or watching what matters to your field. It keeps your business from getting stale.
Final Thoughts
Keeping a regular review frequency—daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly—is the difference between reacting to chaos and running things with intention. It’s less about collecting data for the sake of collecting data, and all about catching small things early and staying focused on what actually grows your business.
Daily and weekly check-ins keep things from slipping through the cracks. Monthly and quarterly reviews help you step back, see what’s working, and make better decisions on where to spend your time and money.
Like I said, you don’t need to track everything. You just need to track the right things often enough to do something about them.
Still have questions? Shoot me an email at michelle@hatchstrategicgrowth, or book a complimentary Marketing Checkup Call to chat. I'm always happy to help!