Amy recently sat down with Ian Murray from SpotOn Productions to discuss one of her biggest passions: measuring marketing performance! From choosing the right metrics for every stage of the marketing funnel to overcoming the challenges of marketing ROI (return on investment), we hope that both business owners and marketers can gain valuable insights.
Understanding the Challenge of Marketing ROI
One of the major pain points for many businesses is justifying and measuring the ROI of marketing efforts. But sometimes ROI isn’t the right metric, especially at the top of the funnel. When the goal is building awareness, for example, there isn't a dollar metric to value your efforts. In this case, it’s more important to track leading indicators based on your funnel stage, like how many people you’re reaching and how many are engaging with your content.
By shifting the focus to "what am I trying to do?" you can select the right metrics at each stage of your funnel and better understand your marketing’s impact.
The Four Stages of the Marketing Funnel
Each stage requires different metrics to measure success. The four key stages of the marketing funnel are:
- Build Awareness: Track simple but powerful metrics like impressions on social media or ad campaigns. These help you assess whether you're "in the market" and reaching your audience.
- Increase Interest: This phase measures whether people are interested in what you’re putting out. Look at website traffic, content engagement, and whether users are interacting with your messaging.
- Gain Commitment: If you’re B2B, this is where you measure leads and pipeline movement. In B2C, it could mean tracking sales or in-store foot traffic.
- Build Relationships: Check whether you’re retaining customers, receiving positive reviews, and building loyalty. Long-term relationships drive future sales and referrals, so keeping an eye on this is crucial.
The Power of Marketing & Sales Alignment
Marketing isn’t just about promoting products or services; it plays a key role in supporting the sales team. A strong marketing plan can help scale the efforts of your best salespeople by creating a seamless experience for the customer, from awareness to purchase.
A collaborative process between marketing and sales ensures you’re continuously optimizing and improving. The best relationships happen when marketing and sales collaborate on a shared vision, using data and insights to inform their approach. Customers don’t care about internal functions - they care about their experience.
Getting Started with Marketing Measurement
So, how do you begin forming a marketing measurement plan? Start simple:
- Track weekly with what you have: Pick a few key metrics from each stage of the funnel based on what you are trying to achieve and review them regularly. We like to do this weekly.
- Use familiar tools: While sophisticated analytics platforms are helpful, start with tools you know and use. Excel spreadsheets like our KPI Tracker & Results Dashboard, for example, are an easy entry point for many businesses, and platforms like Google Analytics and Meta offer free tools and dashboards.
- Analyze the data for insights: By reviewing every week, the conversation will help you understand the "why" and what you could do better. Don't just check the box on measuring numbers; it’s what you’re learning from the numbers that will influence your business.
- Stay disciplined: The single most important thing you can do when starting a marketing measurement plan is to have discipline. Commit time every week to review the data, brainstorm actions based on what you're seeing, and make the necessary adjustments.
Avoiding Pitfalls in Marketing Measurement
There are several common mistakes many businesses make when tracking marketing performance, such as:
- Not tracking anything: Without data, you can’t make informed decisions.
- Tracking too much data: More isn’t always better. Focus on key metrics that drive insights.
- Using vanity metrics: Some data points may look good but offer little business insight. Make sure your metrics connect to the bigger picture, like profitability and growth.
- Not evolving your metrics: What you track today might not be as relevant tomorrow. Be open to adjusting your KPIs as your business and marketing landscape evolve.
Conclusion
Measuring marketing performance doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The goal is to focus on a few meaningful KPIs that align with your business goals. By breaking those goals down by marketing funnel stage, focusing on the right metrics, and reviewing your data consistently, you will build a more effective marketing plan that drives real results for your business.
The full interview can be viewed here.
To learn more about how to improve your marketing measurement effectiveness, check out our blog post, "Marketing KPI's: How to Measure Success and Improve Your Strategy."