Reaching high levels of activity is probably the best way to describe the marketing efforts of many small to medium businesses. It might be an eDM here, a blog there or a media release pronto. As a freelance writer, it keeps the food on my plate, so I’m not complaining. However, I’m often left scratching my head about whether the activity is really, truly effective.
Without wanting to sound too conceited, it’s a fair bet the vast majority of
small business owners don’t come from a marketing background, or have access to marketing resources. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising some owners can be a bit confused about what marketing levers to pull and how to make them work. That said, you don’t have to be Seth Goddin to review some of the marketing tools used by your business.
Marketing campaigns
Your campaign activity can take many forms such as eDMs, social media campaigns, traditional print, or advertising. And no matter what method of marketing communication you use, measuring ROI is important.
Start by determining the number of leads to be generated and the sales dollar budget. Once you have determined these numbers, you can measure the cost of the campaign against the leads and revenue generated. The good news is that many platforms, such as Facebook, have plenty of valuable benchmarking data to help you set some realistic goals.
The next step is to calculate the ROI. Marketers use a simple rule of thumb that goes like this:
• Did you hit the number of leads you set out to generate based on your budget?
• Were you able to convert those leads into sales revenue?
As part of your campaign review, assess whether you’re utilising the best medium (eDM, advertising and so on) to reach your audience – and then if there is some concrete data that demonstrates whether you actually reached your audience.
Remember, you need to determine what works by running a number of marketing campaigns, not relying on a one-off blog or white paper to make a splash. Always remember to have a campaign code to track your activity. This gives you an easy and accurate way to ensure you can attribute leads to a specific marketing activity.
Website traffic
The main tracking mechanism for your website, is traffic. Make sure you have access to some basic performance analytics – this includes reviewing what pages are popular with visitors and how long they’re staying there. Google Analytics is a popular tool with many marketers.
For many small businesses, a website is your shopfront – so it needs to generate leads to be useful. Therefore, track the number of leads you’re generating through the website and how these potential customers are finding you. They might be visiting your site courtesy of your campaigns, a Google search, or from content you’ve posted on a social media platform such as LinkedIn. This manner of review gives you an insight into whether your website messages are starting your clients on the journey to purchasing advice or services from your business.
Content Marketing
Unlike direct campaigns, measuring the effectiveness of your content can be complex. As with traditional public relations – the precursor to content marketing – the aim of good content is to build client awareness at the top of the sales funnel, particularly for those clients interested in your services but not ready to purchase.
However, you can track the reach of your content. This involves assessing how many views your content is achieving on your website or by the likes, shares and comments to your social media accounts. At the same time, your content must be engaging and provide value to a financial planning client. If it’s an overt sales pitch, you’re not developing content which will resonate, and the potential clients will be lost to your business.
This is not an exhaustive list of tips and tricks for measuring your marketing. But as my regular readers will know, any marketing communication activity should support an overall marketing plan. A solid plan gives you a strategy to follow. You can see an example here here, free of charge.
