It’s not just our homes, gardens and offices that benefit from a good spring clean at this time of year. In the automotive world, nothing stands still, so it’s important to freshen up your PR and marketing every now and then too.

However, with so much to do, this regular review and cleanse often gets overlooked by many companies who continue down their well-trodden path. To help save you some time, if you can spot any of the following in your business, then it’s probably a sign that your PR and marketing is long overdue a spring clean and could do with some immediate attention.

1.    The phone’s not ringing as much as you’d like
When the phone’s not ringing it’s a sure fire sign that people have forgotten about you. Whatever product or service your automotive business offers, it’s unlikely that the need for this has completely vanished overnight, but more likely that your customers are buying from your competitors. A re-invigorated PR campaign could remind them about your company’s unique offering.

2.    The last news item on your website is from 2014
Old news items on your website is a real turn off for visitors. They’ll think either you don’t have anything interesting to tell them or perhaps even worse, you can’t be bothered to tell them. What’s more, it’s important for your search engine optimisation that your website is regularly updated, so what better way to do this than with regular company news or blogs?

3.    You’ve not had any press visits or interviews during 2015
If you’ve not had any meaningful discussions with the press yet in 2015, it’s a good indication that your PR isn’t working. Even if you don’t have new products to launch, your PR representative should be working hard for you to generate opportunities to get you into the media. Comment, opinions, case studies and visits are all easy and great ways to get your company in front of potential customers and help raise your profile.

4.    You don’t know what your ROI on your PR activities were in 2014
Amazingly we’re already more than a quarter way through the year so if you still haven’t reviewed your PR activities from 2014 to determine your return on investment, time’s running out. At a most basic level, you should have a good idea of how much media coverage you generated last year. A more sophisticated approach however, will help identify a more strategic impact. For example, how many leads did your PR generate or how else did it contribute towards your strategic goals?

5.    You still haven’t set any clear goals or objectives for your PR in 2015
If you don’t know how you did in 2014, it’s likely that you’ve also failed to plan what you hope to achieve this year too. Without a clear set of goals and objectives, your PR team may be very busy, perhaps even generating plenty of media coverage for you, but is it contributing to the overall strategic growth of the business?

6.    Your website traffic is down compared to last year
Gone are the days when we can look at PR effectiveness in isolation. You should be monitoring the effect your PR has on your website traffic and be able to understand what works and what doesn’t. So if you’re scratching your head as to why your website traffic is down, perhaps it’s because your PR is losing its effectiveness and in need of a fresh approach.

7.    You’re not sure if you need a social media presence
Social media can be a great way to extend the reach of your brand as well as bring you closer to your customers. However, before starting in social media, it’s important that you understand the resources and levels of commitment you will need to invest. You PR team should be advising if this is something you should be doing, which platforms are right for your brand and how to implement a meaningful strategy. If they’re not, it may be time to review things.

8.    You’re still measuring the success of your social media in terms of the number of likes and followers
If your brand is active on social media but you’re still measuring the success of it in terms of the number of likes or fans, then things may need a review. Arguably, it’s much more important to have fewer, highly engaged followers rather than masses who don’t care what you say, or rarely interact with you.

So if any of these situations look familiar to you, then perhaps it’s time to review your PR and marketing now.