Measuring the success of marketing campaigns isn’t easy. The typical campaign reaches users from various platforms, including social media, print, radio and TV. Figuring out just what efforts equal success and which ones have zero impact seems impossible. Fortunately, there are ways to track the results of a campaign and find what elements you should repeat in the future.
One of the best ways of learning how to run a successful marketing campaign is by figuring out what doesn’t work for your brand, as well as what typically fails for most marketers. Brands with high return on investment (ROI) have some things in common when it comes to their marketing efforts. Here are nine areas to focus on that will improve every campaign you run:
Create a Goal
Before you start a marketing campaign, have a measurable goal in mind. You can’t figure out if you met a goal if you don’t know what it is. Understanding the aim of a campaign allows you to reach the appropriate target audience better, know when and where to advertise, and figure out which parts of the campaign met the target and which ones didn’t.
Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and have a deadline. Spend a few extra minutes defining your goal, so your focus is narrowed throughout your campaign.
Know Your Target Audience
One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make with marketing is not knowing the exact buyer persona targeted in the campaign. Understanding exactly who you’re reaching with ads, content and other efforts allows for personalization. If you throw efforts out into the wind, they’ll likely blow back with very few results. However, if you know precisely who the marketing is for, you can concentrate on the right platforms and message.
There are many ways of figuring out who your typical customer is, including studying who visits your website, who follows your competitors on social media and who your current customer base is.
Use Sales Intelligence
Utilize business mapping data to figure out where your competitors are, the best locations for your market and what areas are underserved. Imagine a visualization of sales coverage for your marketing department that includes ideal places for prospective clients. Employees in both marketing and sales can now work together and figure out what areas need more attention and what is already successful.
Big data indicates where improvements are needed and where efforts work well. Looking at a visualization of this data puts everything in perspective for all departments across your company.
Follow up With Leads
Following up with the leads you collect via your marketing campaigns is just as important as the initial attraction to your brand. Most people buy from a company several times before they feel loyal to that brand. Follow-ups give you a chance to offer opportunities for additional purchases. Send a special offer based on the customer’s first purchase, for example. The more connected consumers feel to your brand, the more likely they’ll feel loyal to your business.
Embrace Technology
Companies that combine technology with their digital marketing efforts are twice as likely to reach their business goals. Think about some of the current technology people use the most. Augmented reality (AR) is on the rise, and many marketers now utilize apps and ads with AR capabilities to engage with their target audiences.
Create Amazing Content
You can spend money on numerous online and print ads and even reach out to people at local events, but if your website doesn’t feature quality content, you risk losing leads before they convert into customers. When a user lands on your page because they’ve seen information on your business somewhere else, they want specific content that solves their problems and shows them how you can help them.
About 90 percent of successful business-to-business content marketers credit their wins to content that meets their customers’ informational needs.
Study Your Competition
Spend time before each campaign studying what your competition is up to. If they’re focused on video marketing, then dig down and see if you should add videos to your campaign. If they have a presence on Instagram, figure out what target audience they’re reaching through that platform. Take the time to home in on their messages and which demographics they seem to reach through those ads.
You aren’t studying the competition to copy what they’re doing but figuring out what gaps there might be in your marketing campaign.
Track Results
In order to figure out if your campaign met your goals, you must know how to measure the results of your efforts. If you want to increase brand awareness with the campaign, track social and press mentions, as well as the overall sentiment within comments. For revenue generation, count the number of leads, sells and upsells.
You should also create separate landing pages for places you take out advertising, so you clearly see which ads were most effective for similar campaigns in the future.
Be Patient
Not every marketing campaign offers immediate results. Although an immediate upsurge in sales or 200 new subscribers to your mailing list are measurable and positive changes, sometimes you’re just getting your name in front of a consumer, so they’ll recognize it later down the line. Follow the rules for a strong marketing campaign, and eventually, you’ll see the results you’d like.
