How to Measure
Once you’ve decided on your marketing measurements, work out a plan for how you’re going to measure them. Depending on the size of your business, this could be a simple as nominating a member of your team as the metrics person and meeting with them regularly, but a better strategy might be to involve your entire team. There are a few steps you can take to get the most out of your marketing measurements and not waste time in the process:
Collect Data Automatically
The way in which you collect marketing data may depend on the tools you use. Some tools allow you to collect data automatically in a dashboard format, but other tools might require individual oversight. If you can, establish graphs and measurements automatically using metrics tools. Automated data won’t need to be presented as a slide presentation if it is easily accessible online. If you can’t automate, you can have a team member collect and format the data so that it can be absorbed by the rest of the team.
Analyze Data regularly
You can make constructive decisions about your marketing efforts if you know what your marketing measurements mean. If you intend to measure marketing metrics, you have to take the time to analyze the data you’ve collected. Do it regularly. For example, schedule a weekly or monthly meeting to look at data with your team. Additionally, you could assign this job to a single person. If there is a change in one of your marketing trends, you’ll want to know about it as soon as possible.
Use Data to Take Action
One you’ve measured your data and analyzed it, you should have a good idea of how well your marketing efforts are performing and where they may need to improve. Armed with a clear view of your campaign, you’ll be able to take necessary steps to make it work for you. Taking action and making changes based on your data analysis should be an integral step in every marketing campaign. Just like your regular analysis sessions, taking informed action should happen regularly.
Sometimes the changes you need to make are small ones. For example, if your data is telling you that you are getting a large number of page views on a blog post but no one is clicking on the CTA at the bottom, there could be a problem with the body of the blog post or the CTA itself. You could make a small modification, like changing the CTA’s color and design, and see how it fares. Perhaps the CTA just isn’t right for that blog post, or perhaps the content within the post itself doesn’t relate enough to the content that the CTA links to.
Use Marketing Measurements to Improve Your Business
According to a survey by the American Marketing Association, over a third of U.S. marketing professionals said it was a challenge to measure marketing metrics and use the data constructively. The challenge lies in learning what data to measure, how to measure it, and how to use it to increase ROI. By capturing relevant marketing measurements and analyzing it regularly, your company will know how to use your metrics to make impactful marketing decisions.
Your data can also teach you about big picture issues. If you’ve made sweeping changes to your marketing approach or you plan to in the future, consult your metrics. If you conduct two separate but similar marketing campaigns over time, your metrics will show you which one was more effective. Further investigation will disclose what made the campaign successful, which can help you create better campaigns in the future.
