It’s no secret that a company whose marketing department pays attention to return on investment (ROI) not only benefits in larger marketing budgets, but in growth. So what’s stopping you? What business doesn’t want to see gains in finances or market growth? In order to do that, you have to pay attention to ROI.
How do you measure something that’s challenging to measure? It’s not just about metrics. It’s not just about boosting traffic to your site. It’s about the value of that traffic. It’s about finding what works. Most simply, it’s tracking money in, money out. Oh, and financial gains. It’s about your goals. It’s about knowing what you want to do and how you plan to get there.
It’s more than social media and inbound marketing – both time-intensive practices. Yet they’re both important pieces of your marketing puzzle strategy. It’s about reaching out to potential and current clients. It’s about gaining new clients. It’s about opening and maintaining relationships.
Tackling ROI in your marketing campaign
How do you calculate ROI of a marketing strategy or plan? The answer is in the math. Your calculations should be inserted into your business outlay – for most this is just a guess until you have some solid numbers to work with. You need to accumulate at least several months’ worth of data so you can make a decent comparison. Ideally, not less than six but up to a year is best so you can gauge an annual average – and account for dips and surges based on season.
Marketing endeavors aren’t a quick test. A marketing process is multi-faceted and designed for long-term gains. Slow and steady. In fact, don’t be surprised if you don’t see immediate results (from month 1 to month 3 for example). It takes time for marketing content to get out there and spread.
Define your strategy
Marketing campaigns are NOT just about sales generation. It’s about increasing brand awareness through various approaches that include soft metrics – such as increase in online traffic, likes on Facebook or other social media, and about determining what your target audience is looking for. Questionnaires, surveys and feedback forms are types of soft metrics that can help steer marketing focus based on statistical responses.
It’s about generating lifetime value of email subscribers, social network visitors, blog viewers, and referrals from a guest post to AdWords – compared to the cost of developing that content. Then you can assess measurable outcomes in not only leads, but sales, and then profits.
Whether you’re a medical practice determining the efficacy of your new EMR software, or you’re a start-up seeking the most effective outlay of funds for a new product or service launch, or a brand reinventing itself, don’t ignore the importance of ROI.