Posted by Stacie Chalmers on Thu, May 06, 2010 @ 12:37 PM
It's become evident to me that one of the biggest marketing challenges for business owners is how to measure their marketing and return on investment (ROI).
I've included a link at the bottom of this blog to an excel sheet for Measuring Marketing and ROI which I've adapted from a document received from Hubspot. But before you jump ahead and download the excel sheet, take the time to review my notes on what you should do before starting any marketing and what to measure.
Before You Start
Before starting out with any marketing take the time to plan and set goals. The benefit of doing this is to make sure you get the best return out of your marketing efforts. Often marketers will blame a particular marketing tactic when really it was the message. You need to know what your goals are, who your customers are and what they want, before you even begin an effective marketing campaign.
From here you can craft your marketing message, addressing problems and outcomes that speak to the value system of your prospects. If you have the budget I would suggest speaking with a professional marketing consultant. They will work with you to create a Marketing Plan that will communicate your message (value proposition) to your prospects (target market) via different channels, and develop a lead nurturing program that will attract prospects into your sales funnel, and keep them moving down the funnel until they are ready to convert to a customer.
All your marketing efforts need to be monitored. Test and measure, test and measure and test and measure again, to see what yields the best returns.
What To Measure
There are a lot of different metrics out there but what really matters is what is impacting the bottom line.
Visitors: What's driving traffic (visitors) to your site
Leads: What's encouraging the visitors to convert to a lead.
Customers: What's encouraging the leads to convert to a customer
Personally, I believe Hubspot offers the best tools for monitoring specific marketing campaigns. One of the great features of the Hubspot tools is that it allows you to track specific marketing tactics, even something as simple as a Tweet (ie Tweeted with a link to blog). I find it interesting to see how much extra traffic I get just by changing my status in LinkedIn.
Converting Your Visitors Into Leads
A visitor becomes a lead once they've indicated some interest in your product/service.
Of course traffic on its own doesn't mean much if there are no conversions. This is where a professional marketing consultant can really help. Once you have visitors to your site you need to:
1. Offer the information they are looking for and
2. Give them a compelling reason to provide you with their valuable contact details.
What can you offer that is of value to your prospects? Some suggestions are: Blog subscriptions, eNewsletters, free ebook, free tool or kit. And don't just direct all your traffic to your home page, offer a link to a ‘landing page' which is designed to convert visitors to leads. Without this in place, your marketing efforts will seem futile if no visitors are converting.
Test and measure. Change your offer, heading, message, channel and landing page to see which yields a better result.
Download this Measuring Marketing and ROI excel sheet to track your results, compare and measure against different channels and campaigns.Check out the tools at Hubspot and test drive their 7 day free trial. Remember to start out with a plan and seek professional marketing advice if needed.
I would really like to know if this post provides you with practical solutions to Measuring Marketing and ROI?
Social Media Marketing: Understanding the Change in Psychology
Posted by Stacie Chalmers on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 04:43 PM
If we take a look at history, marketing is continually changing, largely influenced by technology. Over time technology has changed production, distribution, communication, advertising, consumer needs and buyer behavior, necessitating a change in marketing strategies and marketing psychology.
Today, the technology introducing the new era of marketing is the internet and more specifically social media marketing. The internet has created a platform which has changed distribution, advertising, consumer needs and buyer behavior, introducing a new psychology and approach to marketing. In order to run a successful business, understanding how this technology is influencing and changing your market is paramount to guaranteeing marketing victory. It's the marketers and business owners that harness this change in marketing and the psychology who will be the ones that build sustainable businesses and not only survive these tough economic times but position themselves to prosper in the future.
One of the significant benefits for small to medium size businesses (SMBs) is that there is now a level playing field for large and small business. No longer do you need a huge marketing budget to reach your market, conduct market research or get media coverage. Your market reach is the same as large business and your marketing costs are significantly reduced. This is true for both B2C and B2B businesses.
It's not easy though. There is a learning curve to understanding the new technology and psychology behind social media marketing.
The new marketing psychology is about:
1. Valuing your time on the internet: this is no waste of time
2. Appreciating the value of writing: the ‘new' advertising
3. Transparency: your audience expects it
4. Listening: customer relations and market research
5. Giving: creating brand/company awareness
6. Patience: it's a long term strategy
7. Your website: it's about lead generation and conversion
I hope this article has provided some value to marketers and business owners in understanding how marketing is always evolving and the importance of changing your marketing psychology accordingly to get the best return from your marketing efforts and to build a sustainable and profitable business.
Welcome your comments, feedback, questions.
Solutions For Measuring Inbound Marketing and ROI
Posted by Stacie Chalmers on Wed, Jul 08, 2009 @ 03:50 PM
It's become evident to me that one of the biggest marketing challenges for business owners is how to measure their inbound marketing and return on investment (ROI).
I've included a link at the bottom of this blog to an excel sheet for Measuring Marketing and ROI which I've adapted from a document received from Hubspot. But before you jump ahead and download the excel sheet, take the time to review my notes on what you should do before starting any marketing and what to measure.
Before You Start
Before starting out with any marketing take the time to plan and set goals. The benefit of doing this is to make sure you get the best return out of your marketing efforts. Often marketers will blame a particular marketing tactic when really it was the message. You need to know what your goals are, who your customers are and what they want, before you even begin an effective marketing campaign.
From here you can craft your marketing message, addressing problems and outcomes that speak to the value system of your prospects. If you have the budget I would suggest speaking with a professional marketing consultant. They will work with you to create a Marketing Plan that will communicate your message (value proposition) to your prospects (target market) via different channels, and develop a lead nurturing program that will attract prospects into your sales funnel, and keep them moving down the funnel until they are ready to convert to a customer.
All your marketing efforts need to be monitored. Test and measure, test and measure and test and measure again, to see what yields the best returns.
What To Measure
There are a lot of different metrics out there but what really matters is what is impacting the bottom line.
Visitors: What's driving traffic (visitors) to your site
Leads: What's encouraging the visitors to convert to a lead.
Customers: What's encouraging the leads to convert to a customer
Personally, I believe Hubspot offers the best tools for monitoring specific marketing campaigns. One of the great features of the Hubspot tools is that it allows you to track specific marketing tactics, even something as simple as a Tweet (ie Tweeted with a link to blog). I find it interesting to see how much extra traffic I get just by changing my status in LinkedIn.
Converting Your Visitors Into Leads
A visitor becomes a lead once they've indicated some interest in your product/service.
Of course traffic on its own doesn't mean much if there are no conversions. This is where a professional marketing consultant can really help. Once you have visitors to your site you need to:
1. Offer the information they are looking for and
2. Give them a compelling reason to provide you with their valuable contact details.
What can you offer that is of value to your prospects? Some suggestions are: Blog subscriptions, eNewsletters, free ebook, free tool or kit. And don't just direct all your traffic to your home page, offer a link to a ‘landing page' which is designed to convert visitors to leads. Without this in place, your marketing efforts will seem futile if no visitors are converting.
Test and measure. Change your offer, heading, message, channel and landing page to see which yields a better result.
Download this Measuring Marketing and ROI excel sheet to track your results, compare and measure against different channels and campaigns.Check out the tools at Hubspot and test drive their 7 day free trial. Remember to start out with a plan and seek professional marketing advice if needed.
I would really like to know if this post provides you with practical solutions to Measuring Marketing and ROI?