Do you know what is the most profitable form of marketing?

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably assuming that I’m going to answer “paid advertising” or “paid media”. While these are both extremely profitable forms of marketing, I’m actually referring to a completely different type of marketing: 

• Marketing campaigns
• As a business owner, you’ll likely want to look into options for marketing analytics software. There are dozens of solutions in the Marketo ecosystem that could help you effectively track the performance of your online marketing campaigns.

The good news is that you don’t need to be in the e-commerce or SaaS businesses to get value out of the marketing analytics tools that surround you.

You can use these platforms to analyze the performance of your offline marketing efforts as well. Let’s dive in.

What is marketing analytics?

Marketing analytics (also referred to as marketing information technology or just IT) is the use of software and statistical methods to analyze and track marketing activities. Marketing analytics can be as simple as measuring the results of your marketing campaigns, or it can be as complex as trying to determine the exact impact that each individual component of your marketing campaigns had on the final outcome.

Marketing analytics platforms allow you to effectively track the performance of your marketing initiatives and adjust your strategy based on the feedback that you get. For example, if you’re seeing that Instagram is driving traffic to your website but that Twitter is resulting in fewer conversions, you might decide to try a different type of content strategy on social media.

Why should you care about marketing analytics?

If you’re running a business, you naturally have a lot on your mind. You’re thinking about growth, profitability, survival, and a lot more. All of these aspects of your business impact how you handle marketing on a day-to-day basis. But, knowing how to effectively track the performance of your marketing efforts is an important part of your responsibility as a business owner.

You need to focus on marketing analytics if…

• You want to adjust your strategy based on the feedback that you get.
• You’re driven by numbers rather than by emotion.
• You want to try something new and you need to measure its impact.
• You want to make your job easier by automating key processes.

If you’re not sure what type of marketing analytics you should be using, this post will help you decide.

What is marketing campaign analytics?

What is a marketing campaign?

A marketing campaign is a series of planned marketing activities organized around a brand or product. For example, a campaign could be:

• An advertisement that is run in a newspaper or online.
• A social media campaign that includes posts, retweets, and likes.
• A marketing stunt involving live music or entertainment.
• A promotional activity (like a flea market) that promotes a specific product.

Campaigns can be simple or complex depending on your needs and the nature of your product. They can also be single-minded (like a TV commercial) or multi-faceted (like a magazine article that includes an embedded video).

What is important for you to remember about marketing campaigns is that they are planned activities that you organize around a brand or product. This means that the results of your efforts (i.e., the success or failure of your campaign) will depend on the execution of your plan rather than on chance or luck. In other words, you can control your campaigns and the outcomes that you get. This is in contrast to unplanned marketing activities (like putting up a blog post when you feel like it) which can be quite the opposite.

What is the difference between a campaign and a marketing strategy?

A strategy is a long-term plan that you develop to achieve a particular goal. For example, you could have a marketing strategy for growth, a strategy for finding customers, or a strategy for improving ad response. The difference is that a marketing strategy is usually a bit more general in nature (e.g., “We want to attract millennials to our website”) while a campaign is usually more narrowly focused on a particular product (e.g., “We want to run an advertisement in this month’s newspaper to draw attention to our webiste”).

One of the things that you need to keep in mind about marketing strategies is that they are long-term plans that take time to implement. This means that you should not expect to see results straight away; instead, it will take time to see if this particular strategy is going to work or not. The good news is that you can make adjustments along the way and improve your odds of successful implementation. If you decide that this strategy is not working, you can try another one.

What is an effective marketing campaign?

An effective marketing campaign is one that takes into account all of the elements discussed below:

• Creative
• Plan
• Measurement
• Learning

Creative: The creative portion of your marketing campaign includes everything from the visual design of your advertisements to the typeface that you use. The better the creative side of your campaign, the better your chance of attracting new customers and creating brand awareness. However, you also need to be careful not to go overboard with your creativity. Being too creative can potentially result in overall brand confusion or distraction. In some instances, a brand that is completely original and eye-catching can make an effective marketing campaign, but in other cases, this creativity can do more harm than good.

Plan: Your plan is crucial for the success of your marketing campaign. You need to put down in writing everything that you intend to do, including the objectives that you’re hoping to achieve. You should also break down each part of your plan into its own distinct step. It is often helpful to write down the hassle-free steps to achieve your goals. Having a plan will allow you to measure your progress along the way and determine if you’re on track to reach your goals. If you decide that your plan is not logical or makes no sense, it could be a good idea to re-evaluate your strategy and try again.

Measurement: You need to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaign after it’s been completed. The better your measurements are, the better your strategy. Measuring the results of your marketing efforts allows you to examine the parts that worked and the parts that failed. You can then determine which strategy will be best suited for your needs. If you decide that your measurements are not enough, it could be a good idea to try again with another strategy.

How can marketing analytics help you?

Marketing analytics can help you by providing you with detailed reports about the performance of your marketing campaign. These reports will tell you everything from how many people viewed your ad (the implementation of your strategy to attract new customers), to how many clicks your Facebook advertisement got (the effectiveness of your strategy to establish brand awareness).

The great thing about marketing analytics tools is that they can be customized to provide you with the information that you need. Some tools, like Google Analytics, will give you detailed reports about how your website performed, while other tools, like HubSpot, will provide you with key performance indicators (like the average time that people spend on your site, the number of blog articles that they read, or the conversion rate of your website).

What do you need to keep in mind when using these marketing analytics tools?