Inevitably, when planning a media buy, companies will be faced with the issue of expending too much money on poorly targeted and low-quality leads. The answer is simple: measure the results of your online marketing efforts closely, and correct course if you find yourself falling short of your objectives. To assist you in this quest, we’ve prepared a short tutorial that will walk you through the steps to take before, during, and after your Promo Code PEMF (Product, Event, Marketing Format) runs.
Why Measure The Performance Of Your Online Marketing Efforts?
It’s no secret that marketing budgets are shrinking, and rightly so. While there are countless reasons why the cost of traditional marketing methods (such as advertising) is on the rise, the simple fact remains that you can’t measure the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts unless you set up proper benchmarks beforehand.
You can’t expect to determine the success of your efforts simply by looking at the number of views you attracted to your YouTube videos or the amount of interest you generated on social media channels. Nor can you assume that acquiring a certain number of new subscribers or Facebook Likes is an indicator of marketing success.
You need to look at the figures and metrics that matter: engagement, conversion, and impact. For instance, did your ads generate leads, transform into paying customers, and how many of those customers did you retain over the long haul?
“Views, Likes, and Subscribers don’t matter if you don’t convert them into paying customers,” notes Jay Fulcher, founder of Blue Fountain Media.
How To Establish Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The first step towards establishing your performance benchmarks is to determine your key performance indicators (KPIs). These are simply measurements that you’ll use to determine the success of your efforts:
- Views – the total number of times your content was viewed
- Engagement – the average time viewers spend watching your content
- Conversion – the percentage of people who’ve clicked a link or viewed a specific piece of content on your site
- Complexity – the difficulty someone has in understanding what your content is about
- Click-through rate (CTR) – the number of times someone clicks on an ad or link relative to the number of times their content is viewed
- CPI (Cost per impression) – the average amount of money spent on each impression
- MCPI (Most cost-effective per impression) – the amount of money you need to spend to achieve your return on investment (ROI)
- CPL (Cost per lead) – the average amount of money you need to spend to generate a new lead
- MPL (Most cost-effective per lead) – the amount of money you need to spend to achieve your return on investment (ROI)
- Lift – the percent increase in conversion from a single marketing channel to another
- New vs. Returning visitors – the percentage of people who’ve visited your site previously versus those who’ve never been there
- Bounce rate – the percentage of people who leave your site after viewing only one page
- Time on site – the average time someone spends on a page before leaving
- Entry points – the pages someone most often visits first when landing on your site
- Exit points – the pages someone visits last before leaving your site
- Voice – the general tone or language people use when interacting with your brand
- Ease of navigation – how easy it is to find what you’re looking for on your site
- Checkout funnel – the pages someone visits after viewing an advertisement or a specific piece of content on your site
- Referrals – the percentage of people who’ve visited your site and then told a friend or colleague about it
For better or worse, you’ll never know the exact answer to any of these questions until you begin tracking them diligently. Once you do, you’ll have a much better idea of what is and isn’t working and be able to make appropriate adjustments as needed.
Determining The Goal Of Your Promo
You’ll also need to determine the goal of your promotional efforts. This is something that should be established before your campaign even begins, and it will serve as your guide throughout the process. What do you hope to see from this campaign?
“The main goal of any marketing activity should be to achieve the desired business results and create the desired customer experience,” notes Jeff Bullas, CEO of CommerceEngine.
In the case of Promo Code PEMF, your goal is to generate as much interest around a certain product or service as possible. There’s no need to get too complex in your thought process here. Do you want more people to know about your product or service? Does the idea of attracting and engaging new customers intrigue you?
If so, then you should aim to generate as much interest as possible around a product or service that you feel is fairly unique and has the potential to appeal to a somewhat selective audience. Keep in mind: the more you can communicate the value of your product or service, the better. The simpler your message, the more successful you’ll likely be in driving qualified leads to your site.
Use The Right Metrics
In addition to establishing your key performance indicators, you’ll need to choose the right metrics to measure your progress. While it would be convenient to use the same figures for all your KPIs, this isn’t feasible. Different metrics will yield different results, and you can’t expect to get an accurate picture of how well you’re doing by looking at a single source of data.
When choosing your KPIs, you need to consider what’s most relevant to your business, product, and goals. If you’re looking for a quick way to gain traction and attract new customers, you might want to measure the number of times your ads are displayed or the amount of time someone spends on your site. If you’re looking to increase brand loyalty and encourage repeat visits, you could look at the number of times someone comes back after a previous visit versus new visitors.
On the other hand, if you want to decrease your marketing costs and be more selective with your audience, you might consider measuring the number of leads you acquire versus the amount of time someone spends on your site. The list of metrics you could use to track the performance of your Promo Code PEMF campaign is endless, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. Simply pick a few that matter most to you and your business.
Once you’ve established your KPIs, you’ll need to determine how to measure them. This is another important step that will dictate the outcome of your campaign. It could be as simple as averaging the number of views per day or week, or it could be a little more complex. Again, the goal is to have a single source of data that’s as simple to understand and use as possible.
Create A Campaign Plan
Having a plan is essential in any campaign. Even if you’re following the steps in this article carefully and accurately, you’ll still need to sit down and map out the overarching strategy and goals of your campaign before you begin executing. This will take some time and likely require input from others within your organization. However, the effort will be worth it.
Having a plan doesn’t just serve as a guide for what to do. It can also help you evaluate the results of your campaign and determine whether or not to continue down this path. Remember that no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. Sometimes the goals you set forth in your plan may not be achievable, and that’s okay. Just roll with it and reassess.
One of the best things about plans is that they put things in writing. Once you’ve established a plan and its associated goals, you’ll have a clear idea of what to do and when to do it. This comes in especially handy when dealing with busy schedules and hectic work environments. It’s easy to lose sight of things when dealing with all the other responsibilities of daily life. By putting everything in writing, you’ll be able to follow up with firm actions should you forget to do something or miss a deadline. This type of accountability is invaluable and something you should look for in any plan.