When creating an effective marketing strategy, one of the first steps is to establish the goal or goals of the campaign. Are you looking to introduce your brand? Increase your social media presence? Possibly generate more leads and sales? Whatever the goals may be, measuring your campaign’s performance is key for understanding where you’ve succeeded and where there’s room for improvement.
MEASURING YOUR SUCCESS
Not every marketing campaign will have the same measurements of success. However, recognizing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will help you determine which measurements will push your marketing strategy to succeed. The following list provides beneficial KPIs to measure when launching your campaign.
1. Website Traffic Analytics
One of the easiest ways to tell if your online marketing campaign is working is to analyze your website traffic. Before the campaign begins, set up an analytics tracking system, like Google Analytics, within your site to see data such as where your visitors are coming from, how many are visiting, the amount of time they are spending on the site, where they decide to leave the site, and more.
Conversions, geographic locations, and the percentage of viewers using a mobile device vs a desktop device are all examples of measurable indicators within your website analytics that provide valuable information. Knowing this information will determine if your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns are successfully directing people to your site. You can collect a wide range of data about your potential clients simply by tracking your website traffic analytics.
2. Social Media Analytics
Almost every campaign you set up online can be tracked, and social media posts and email campaigns aren’t any different. Before launching your social media marketing campaign, note a quick overview of the amount of likes/followers your accounts have and the amount of people that normally engage with your posts. This will provide you with a starting point and an idea of how you want your social media accounts to grow.
Once you have an idea of where your accounts stand, begin analyzing the social media posts made during your campaign. Are customers engaging more with heavy text-filled posts? Maybe they like informational posts about products, or photos that introduce your employees and the people behind the scenes. Evaluating which posts are generating the most likes, engagements, conversions, and follows will determine what your customers are wanting to see from you.
3. Email Analytics
Just like your website and social media analytics, email campaigns provide valuable data about your customers. Whether you’re introducing a sale or distributing a weekly newsletter, email analytics will tell you information such as how many people received the email, opened the email, clicked on a link within the email, unsubscribed to your email list, and spent time on your landing page or website. Learn about the information your customers want to consume by evaluating how they respond to your email campaigns.
4. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
The customer acquisition cost is the total amount of money spent on gaining new customers through your strategy. To calculate the CAC, divide the amount of money spent on gaining new customers by the number of new customers gained.
To determine the total marketing campaign investment, include all fees, programs, technologies, campaign budgets (such as PPC), and any money spent toward marketing to new customers. You can do this for each campaign you run, from social media campaigns to SEO campaigns. For example, if you spend a total of $10,000 over the course of a quarter and gain 40 new customers from it, your CAC is $250.
5. Return on Investment (ROI) – Digital Marketing Strategy
No one wants to continuously invest money into something that doesn’t return a profit. Keep logs of the amount of money being spent on campaigns so you don’t become overwhelmed. Talk with an expert about a realistic budget, and then stick as close to that budget as possible. You want your marketing strategy to be effective, not a black hole you seem to keep throwing money at.
6. Leads and Sales
If your business is sales driven, calculating your overall growth for the year will help determine the effectiveness of your marketing strategy. It is important to compare the big picture when looking at sales growth, and comparing year to year can provide an accurate representation of the success of your marketing campaign. Keep in mind that some marketing services, such as SEO, may take a little more time to show progress due to the process involved.
Digital marketing tactics have the potential to reach a wider audience than traditional marketing strategies. Because of this, you may see more qualified leads generated specifically from the strategies initiated in your campaign. The data provided from services such as PPC, SEO, social media advertising, branding development, and email campaigns allow you to track where your new leads came from, and where they turned into actual sales. Understanding where your leads came from will contribute to the success of your overall campaign.
WHY MEASURING YOUR MARKETING IS IMPORTANT
Not every marketing campaign will be successful from the start, and it is important to measure KPIs to determine where the strategy can be changed or improved. Once you’ve identified the strategies that work for you, a successful marketing campaign will generate sales, push traffic to your website, and maximize the return on your investment.
You will also learn beneficial information about your customers, such as the products and services they are most interested in. Measuring your marketing provides valuable data in identifying your customers’ wants and needs.
Understanding this data can be daunting and complex, but we work to make the process as simple and transparent as possible. Our team of marketing experts specialize in different strategies to provide you with exceptional service. We continue to track your overall progress, and we will keep you updated every step of the way. To chat with a professional about the marketing services that will work best for you, contact us here or call (217) 222-1451.
