All businesses that are focused on growth should measure the effectiveness of their sales and marketing strategies. In an increasingly digitised world, the quantity of data elements to analyse has risen steadily. Moreover, this huge quantity of data is disjointed. Your measurement calculations can go skew-whiff rapidly, due to the diverse metrics and channels involved. This results in costly, substandard marketing. Happily, it is possible to manage this overabundance of data – by realising that some of it is not important, and concentrating on the aspects that are.
Benchmarking Your ROI – What Should You Aim For?
It is difficult to determine an ROI benchmark for all your marketing, because no two marketing methods are the same. Of course, to achieve an ROI of any kind, you need to earn over one pound for each pound you invest into a campaign. What you regard as a 'decent ROI' will vary, depending on your sector, the distribution channels used, and your specific marketing strategy.
Typically, an online marketing method such as pay per click advertising (PPC) tracks ROI data automatically. When implementing a method like this, it is easy to compare the returns from different adverts. In addition, established players like Google Ads have data going back many years, to verify their claimed ROI benchmark of 700 percent. A business growth specialist like JDR can manage Google Ads campaigns on your behalf, to help your company achieve these sorts of figures.
With other methods, such as content marketing, it is harder to know whether your videos, podcasts or blog posts are generating sales directly – particularly if the content is not linked to, or published on, a lead capture page. The majority of businesses set ROI benchmarks for their marketing strategies by looking at their existing sales figures, as well as the returns from comparable strategies they have used previously. Data like this will allow you to determine ROI goals and benchmarks that are achievable for your business. Again, we can help you set realistic but ambitious ROI targets for different types of content, based on known performance criteria for your industry.
Tracking and Monitoring Data
Suffice to say, you should have clearly defined reasons for tracking different types of data, and understand the calculations and how you will use the details. Irrespective of which advertising methods you opt for, monitoring the five variables below will allow you to gauge the success of your campaigns:
1) Cost of Production – Monitor the full cost of services, software and supplies required to launch and sustain the campaign.
2) Duration - How long did you spend creating the campaign materials?
3) Webpage Analytics – Find out whether the content you produce sends visitors to the landing page for your product by using a tracking link.
4) Cost of Promotion – If any money was spent on promotion, this should be added to your overall costs.
5) Non-Monetary Returns - Did your campaign result in any unforeseen traffic spikes, viral engagement or other similar benefits? If it did, this might raise the public profile of your brand and generate future revenue.
Find Out More
With so many variables and hidden expenses involved in marketing, it’s important to set clear goals, and keep a tight rein on your budget in order to get the maximum ROI from your spend. You have to spend money in order to make money with marketing, and perseverance pays dividends, but working with a business development partner is normally more cost effective for an SME than hiring a marketing team in-house. Contact JDR today and let us find the best data for your company, so you can boost the ROI from your marketing and achieve your revenue goals.
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