Don’t Set It And Forget It, Analyze It & Improve It

I’ll always associate “set it and forget it” with Ron Popeil, the undisputed king of infomercials. Late-night TV  in the late 1990s’ meant watching Ron enthusiastically pitch another must-have kitchen gadget, most memorably the Showtime Rotisserie. He’d flip the switch, step back, and have the audience chant along with him like it was a mantra. Set it. And forget it. 

And honestly, the pitch worked because the product delivered on the promise. Turn it on, walk away, come back to dinner. Simple. Convenient. No babysitting required. That idea resonated so well that Ron sold more than 8 million Showtime Rotisseries. Not because it was flashy, but because the message was clear. People love anything that feels effortless, especially when it actually works.

We see so many businesses apply the same idea to their marketing efforts. In our local business audit, which surveyed more than 275 businesses, we found that 43% are essentially “setting it and forgetting it,” so to speak. They set up their website and marketing initially, but neglected to update it regularly. They didn’t respond to online contact forms and email inquiries. They thought they had done enough by setting up a responsive website and creating a digital footprint.

This is problematic. Businesses are unlikely to be successful in digital marketing with a “set it and forget it” mindset. Companies should set it, record it, analyze it, report it, and build upon it. I would suggest that the right mindset is “Analyze it, and improve it!”

Marketing efforts fall short when they’re treated as one-and-done projects. Customer behavior shifts, search habits change, and platforms are constantly tweaking how things work, which means what worked a few months ago may already be losing steam. The goal isn’t to watch every metric imaginable, but to pay attention to the signals that actually matter, how people find you, what they do once they arrive, and whether any of it turns into real leads. When you understand what’s happening, marketing stops feeling like a guessing game and starts becoming something you can actually improve on purpose. Marketing works best when it’s treated as an ongoing process, which is why a clear digital marketing strategy is essential for turning insight into consistent growth.

Analyze It.

Unlike a rotisserie chicken, marketing can’t actually be left alone. If you don’t check in on it, things start to smell funny 😉

Data isn’t just a pile of numbers sitting in a report. It’s your marketing talking back to you. It tells you whether people are paying attention, getting confused, or quietly moving on. Are they clicking but never calling? Is traffic climbing while leads stay stubbornly flat? Are some services doing all the heavy lifting while others just sit there?

You don’t need to track everything imaginable. Focus on what leads to real business. How people find you. What they do once they land on your site. And most importantly, whether any of it turns into phone calls, form fills, or booked work. When you regularly look at performance, patterns start to emerge, and marketing stops feeling like a blind guess. With clear marketing analytics and reporting, you can see how people find your business, where they drop off, and what’s actually driving leads. You can see how people find your business, where they drop off, and what’s actually driving leads.

If a business has set up a website with hard-to-decipher call-to-action buttons and an outdated About page, they might be missing out on prospective clients who are searching for them online. They might miss out on customers who have just moved to the area if they aren’t posting on social media consistently. They could leave a potential client hanging if they never respond to their online contact form. Any of these missteps could cause a current or potential customer to check out a competitor.

Improve It.

This is usually where things go off the rails. Some businesses leave everything untouched for months. Others panic at the first dip and start changing everything at once.

Neither approach works.

Improving marketing isn’t about chasing the latest shiny idea or reinventing the wheel every week. It’s about making small, smart adjustments based on what the data is already telling you. Clear up the message. Tighten the targeting. Make it easier for someone to take the next step. Those little refinements tend to outperform big, dramatic overhauls every time.

It also helps to remember that marketing doesn’t work in pieces. Ads perform better when local SEO supports them. Social posts make more sense when they support a clear message. Websites convert better when they’re built with a purpose. When everything moves in the same direction, improvement stops feeling random and starts feeling intentional.

Not sure how to go about analyzing it and improving it? Give us a call or visit our digital marketing services page. We’d love to get you started on the right path and help you achieve your marketing goals.