We’ve aligned on purpose. We’ve activated a plan. We’ve achieved momentum through brand-aligned creative. So what happens next?

We Adjust.

This isn’t a “wrap-up” phase. It’s a continuing one because marketing isn’t static, and neither are your audiences, your goals, or your business. Adjust is where we zoom out, assess performance, and make informed decisions about what to tweak, keep, scale, or scrap.

And we do it by looking at the agreed-upon metrics that matter.

Beginning with the End in Mind

Back in the Align and Activate phases, we worked with stakeholders to define success: more leads, better attendance, increased awareness, improved engagement, stronger conversions.

Now it’s time to hold ourselves accountable to those goals.

Are we seeing more click-throughs? Are people spending time on the landing page? Did email open rates improve? Are events filling up? Are the right conversations happening between marketing and sales?

These aren’t just numbers. They’re signals telling us where to go next.

Crawl, Walk, Run

Marketing success doesn’t require a big bang on day one. In fact, some of the most effective campaigns start small and then scale as we learn what works.

That’s the crawl, walk, run philosophy in action. Start with manageable efforts and budgets. Learn. Adjust. Grow.

Maybe it’s one targeted ad instead of a full campaign. A pilot event before a larger rollout. A single email flow before automating the entire funnel.

You don’t need to get it perfect. You need to get it moving. Crawl, walk, run means great isn’t the enemy of good. Adjust is what helps you evolve and accelerate.

Here’s a quick story.

We partnered with an advertising agency to help reimagine a golf community for both current and future members. They were looking to improve their facilities, celebrate the value of membership by showcasing what had recently been updated and cast a vision of a family-friendly third place for golfers with younger children.

We worked with the client team to center around what would be the most persuasive messages for future members while also communicating the benefits of the updates current members had to live with (like fairways being torn up) while they were happening.

We redesigned their website from top to bottom and relaunched it with a clear articulation of different membership levels and benefits. We created new photography and video and used it in all their touchpoints including printed literature, direct mail, print advertising and social media channels.

So what worked the best?

As it turned out, we doubled-down on meaningful programs like a holiday gift certificate promo where a current member could golf at a discount and also pass the value along to a friend. This allowed for the full experience without any form of high-pressure selling found at other area clubs, keeping their sales team busy. This makes all kinds of sense in hospitality.

The Rhythm of Check-Ins

Adjust isn’t a “one and done” thing. It’s a rhythm. A practice. A set of habits that turn marketing from a one-off static project into a dynamic performance function.

Whether we’re measuring an ad, an event, or a co-branded partnership, there has to be a cadence of check-ins. Weekly, monthly — whatever fits your team’s pace and makes sense for the goals being pursued.

What matters is that it happens. As long as marketing is in motion, your insights should be providing the course correcting guidance every step of the way.

Why It Matters

This phase helps you separate effort from outcome. It gives your team permission to adapt and encouragement to double down on what’s working.

So before you roll into the next quarter, ask: What are we measuring? What’s working? What’s not? And what’s next?

Smart marketing doesn’t just launch. It learns.