As we move further into the digital marketing space, it’s allowed us, as marketers, to improve who and how we target people- but this comes at a cost… More data means more measurement and increasing pressure to prove ROI for the campaigns we produce.
So how do we, as marketers, prove the worth of our marketing campaigns?
Here are just three important first steps you should be considering to ensure you are covering all bases:
What data is important?
Measuring your campaigns is an essential part of proving your marketing worth. It not only explains what has been achieved but also helps clarify what you need to achieve going forward.
Marketers often look at metrics such as cost per click, number of sessions, conversion volume or open rate. Whilst these are all essential when analysing your campaign performance, they are often useless without knowing what return on investment these provided and become vanity metrics. Use these metrics alongside other data such as sales or enquiries to show the true level of engagement and worth.
For example, an unfocused landing page may have a high number of sessions to a web page but no enquiries, whereas more considered and relevant content may act as a filter for large chunks of your audience but result in high enquiry volumes. It’s this percentage that will be more valuable to measure your ROI.
Measurable ROI
How can you measure return on investment if you aren’t tracking it? Put simply….you can’t.
One of the most common problems in marketing is explaining the success of a campaign when measures of success haven’t been put in place at the beginning of a project.
Consider the following when planning a campaign:
- What do you want to achieve?
- How are you going to achieve it?
Then consider:
- What will success look like?
- How will success be measured?
As marketers, it’s easy to get caught up in the first couple of points (it’s the fun stuff!) but the final points are what justifies your reason for being. With hundreds of measurement and reporting tools out there, there’s almost too many to choose from. So, where to start? The holy grail of digital measurement tools… Google Analytics. Not only will Google Analytics help you calculate your ROI but also gives you information on how you increase ROI and provides valuable insights using a wide range of methods. Another bonus… it’s absolutely free!
Back it up with evidence
When you look back at your campaign you want to be able to ask yourself: Did you hit the targets you set out to achieve? Did you engage with a particular audience you identified? How many leads or sales were generated from this campaign?
These are the metrics you will share with your team and the business to measure success.
It takes a bit of effort to put it all in place and figure out exactly your measures of success, but developing an analytics plan will ensure that you have a template for success for the future.
Remember… be consistent. Measuring campaigns year on year, or like for like, means putting processes in place so you can produce reliable data-driven results.
Want to know how you can add more value to your online marketing or speak to an expert today on setting up reporting? Get in touch with us today!