Maybe it’s time to think again…
When it comes to marketing, traditional or digital, we often hear that people think of it as a “Black Art” or have been told you can’t really track results. Whilst you might not be able to track it 100%, there are a number of things you can do to measure your ROI and ensure that you aren’t spending time and money on marketing that simply isn’t delivering the results you need.
Over the years I have increasingly become an analytics geek. At first, I was almost apologetic, but as the years have gone on, I have embraced this part of my business persona. If you do not know what your marketing efforts are truly delivering, how will you know where to invest your marketing budget?
Here are three simple methods that you can use to measure what is working when it comes to your marketing strategy…
Do you actually know what is working?
One of the simplest, yet often overlooked methods, is analytics. When it comes to digital marketing, you should ensure that your website has Google Analytics set up. This allows you to actually see where traffic to your site is coming from, what is happening when they land on the site and which pages are or aren’t performing as they should be.
Diarise regular reviews of the social media profile performances. Each platform has their own analytics for you to review the performance of the business profile or personal account as well as which posts have performed well, based on Likes, Comments and Shares.
After all, why would you continue to create content that no one is interested in?
Have you asked the question?
When speaking to clients and prospects, there is a perfect opportunity to ask them where they have found out about your product or service. Admittedly, you may get a more generic “on social” or “on the internet” type response, but it can help, especially if your marketing is split between face to face, online or traditional marketing funnels.
Create a tracking system
From referral incentives to buying codes, there are options to ensure that a client has to come through a set process in order to gain a particular reward. This is something that should be used with some caution, as one of the downfalls can be that if you constantly offer discounts, it can devalue the perception of your brand. However, offering incentives which don’t cost your business in real terms but do add perceived value and buy in will also allow you to accurately track where traffic is coming from.
These are quick wins when it comes to measuring ROI, however there are obviously a host of alternatives and not all marketing methods will suit all businesses. If anyone ever says they can’t report on marketing ROI, it may be worth delving a little deeper…
If you would like to discuss these or any other marketing measuring options, please get in touch. We are always happy to have a no obligation chat to discuss all things marketing over a coffee.
Thanks for reading,
Pam