MARKETING METRICS MATTER
Sales are the ultimate purpose of all marketing.
There are no exceptions because, without sales, a business cannot exist.
Before any fellow marketers reading this get all up in arms, let me explain.
There are different steps to achieving a sale. Marketing tackles all steps of the sales funnel. So certain types of marketing will not result in a direct sale, but they should be building toward sales and the results should be trackable and justifiable. Your marketing strategies should identify what portion of the sales funnel you’re targeting and then the marketing plan you build should closely target customers at that stage. For marketing planning tools, be sure to check out the templates I created that give you all of the information and backbone you need to create effective and intentional marketing plans.
As savvy business people, we try very hard not to spend money, time, or effort on investments that do not deliver a return. But the process of seeing that return can, and often does, have multiple steps.
Different types of marketing capture people at different stages of the sales funnel. There are specific tactics used at each stage to increase the chances of moving more and more consumers down into the sales funnel for the eventual purpose of making a sale and gaining their business.
All of these tactics, at every step, must be measured to be sure they are delivering the desired return. If you don’t know if your tactics are working, how can you decide to keep spending
resources on them?
Metrics, KPIs, and success criteria are all different terms for measuring the data of your marketing tactics. They all help you determine how to attract, convert, and keep customers, while also providing insights to improve your offering.
Metrics = measures of quantitative success that help you analyze performance and make
decisions.
KPIs = Key Performance Indicators = These are also known as success criteria. These are
identified metrics that you will track with specific goals associated with those metrics. For
example, if you are using Email Marketing to try to increase sales, a few KPIs could be Open
Rates, Click Through Rates, Time Spent on Page, Sales from Emails, etc. Each of those KPIs
should have a goal associated with it based on your known conversion rates and your
desired returns.
HOW TO TRACK YOUR MARKETING
Good tracking requires a few simple rules. The more consistent you are in measuring, tracking, and analyzing, the more insights you will gain from your work.
Before you initiate any marketing initiative and begin tracking, always know…
Your goal for the initiative (aka, what does success look like)
What metrics you will use to measure your success
When you will assess these metrics
When you will determine the final results to stop, continue, or optimize your initiative
TYPES OF MARKETING METRICS
By this point, I hope the question you’re thinking is, “Great! So what metrics should I start with?”
If you are thinking like this, then you are thinking like a marketer who is likely to succeed. Data is the secrete to good marketing — although many people don’t like to admit this because they don’t view data as fun…
But, if you like succeeding, winning, doing good work, making people happy, etc. then you can learn to love data and data analysis because data is what will show you how to do this in any marketing role.
To get you started, here’s a list of a few key metrics to consider, by channel when working with paid and organic content. These lists are not exhaustive, but merely a starting point. For full lists by channel, you can purchase and download any of the marketing guides or trackers I’ve designed for you.
Organic
Website/Blog: Traffic, Pageviews, Pages per Session, Traffic Sources
Email: Open Rates, Click-Through Rates, Purchases
Social Media Channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube: Likes/Views, Comments, Shares, Follows
Paid
Google Ads: Impressions, Click Throughs, Purchases
3rd Party Review Sites: Impressions, Click Throughs, New Customers
Social Media Channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube: Impressions, Click Throughs, Engagements, Follows
MARKETING METRICS TRACKING TOOLS
Tracking your marketing work does not have to be tough. It should be one of the most exciting parts of all your marketing efforts because it will tell you if your work is paying off.
For more information on any of these metrics, channels, and tactics, I recommend checking out all the self-guided materials I’ve built in my shop. You can download exactly what you need to get started. You can also download individual metrics tracking files for each channel that are fully formatted in excel, complete with adaptable formulae and dynamic charts. All you have to do is drop in the numbers! Here are the trackers I’ve created for you:
Don’t be alarmed if it takes a while to generate results. Marketing is not a quick solution. Typically, marketing takes a few months to really gain traction so be patient with yourself and your work and be consistent!! Data depends on consistency so commit to your initiative and see it through. But be ready and willing to pivot and optimize based on what your data tells you! And ALWAYS remember, failure is a good thing! We learn far more from it and it is an opportunity. So if your marketing initiative fails, embrace it, learn from it, and pivot!
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Thank you for reading this post and for choosing to learn a bit more about marketing! We need more good marketers out there and you're taking steps to be part of that elite group. If you have any questions or want to learn more, feel free to check out the rest of the free articles published on this site and shop through the self-guided materials created for you.
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