How to measure your marketing activities
When you buy a ticket in the Lotto, you check to see if you won. When you place a bet on a horse at the races, you check to see if it won. But when you spend money on marketing activities, do you check to see if it worked?
There is a quote by Peter Drucker that says:
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. With quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
One of the most common mistakes I see small businesses make is the choice to not measure their marketing. The choice is usually disguised by an excuse like, ‘I just haven’t had time’, but regardless, it is still a choice. And it is a bad one.
Measuring your marketing helps you:
- Evaluate the performance of your marketing activities,
- Identify the activities that generate you the highest return on investment,
- Make informed decisions about where you spend your marketing budget, and most importantly,
- It helps you stop wasting money on marketing activities that do not generate you any return.
Another excuse I come across regularly is, ‘It can’t be measured’. This is not true. Yes, some marketing activities are more difficult to measure than others, but it can be done.
So, today, I share with you some methods you can use to measure some of the most common forms of marketing:
- Print Ads and Traditional Marketing Channels: Use different 1300 numbers on each ad or medium, or make the ad a voucher that the customer needs to cut out and show you.
- Online Ads: Number of impressions, Click Through Rates.
- Websites: Google Analytics
- SEO: Search Engine Ranking
- Email Marketing: Number of opens, clicks, forwards, tweets, Facebook shares, Click Through Rates.
- Youtube: Number of views.
- Facebook: Number of interactions and impressions.
- Twitter: Number of followers, retweets, and mentions.
- Direct Mail: Special offers that they need to quote when they call you up, or unique phone numbers.
- Networking: Number of referrals or business alliances formed.
If it has been a while since you last measured the performance of your marketing activities, set some time aside and do it this week. If you are unsure how to measure some of your marketing activities, send me an email and I’ll help you out. – nicky@debutmarketing.com.au
In: How To:, Marketing Tips, Networking, Online Marketing, Social Media, email marketing
Setting Yourself Up for Networking Success
Most people set life goals.
Most business people set business goals.
But as a business person, do you set networking goals?
Given that it is the beginning of the year, I felt it was appropriate to broach the topic of Goal Setting, specifically for networking.
Henry Ford once said:
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes of your goal.”
By setting goals, it gives us direction, focus, purpose. Goals prevent us from losing track of what we are doing and why we are doing it. They help us get out of bed in the morning when it is pouring rain and all you want to do is lie in bed listening to the soothing sound of raindrops hitting your rooftop. They help us persevere at the times when we least want to do so.
If you haven’t done so in the past, now is a great time take a brief moment and think about what you want to achieve from networking. Read the rest of this post »
In: How To:, Marketing Tips, Networking
Understanding Your Market
Have you ever been out with a group of people and had trouble trying to decide on a restaurant that everyone agrees on? We’ve all been there, right?
Over Christmas there were many get together’s and meals eaten out at restaurants with family and friends.
One of the things I noticed was how everyone was driven by different motivations. Some were driven by price, others location, some needed somewhere child-friendly, and some wanted a particular type of cuisine.
Everyone’s motivations were different. Because every person on this planet is different. They have different likes, dislikes and are exposed to different situations.
Today, I pose the question, “Do you understand what your market is driven by?” Read the rest of this post »
In: Marketing Tips, Networking
