The Business Bulletin
Marketing: if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it The ultimate goal of any marketing strategy is to produce a return on investment in terms of increased sales for your business. Reporting on marketing, then interpreting and applying that data to achieve real results for businesses should be at the heart of any business.
What is measurable marketing?
that springs to mind when people
are in a position to develop a
think of measuring digital marketing.
marketing strategy designed
Broadly speaking, digital marketing,
It is certainly true that Google Analytics
to achieve these goals.
provides a wealth of data about who
which can be defined as marketing activities centred around the internet and other digital channels, is the easiest to measure. Here are the reporting areas to consider: ■ Website performance ■ Search engine optimisation (SEO) ■ Social media ■ Email marketing ■ Digital advertising However, traditional marketing can still be measured as long as the right systems are in place, such as coupon codes for print advertising, brand name mentions online for PR and asking new leads where they have seen you and filing this information in a company CRM.
Measure what benefits you directly Google Analytics is often the first thing
38 | Issue 6 – Sales and Marketing
is visiting your website and what they are doing on it. However, in most cases when reviewing the data in Google Analytics, it can seem overwhelming and difficult to decipher. And bear in
■ Agree measurements which reflect the success of marketing activities based on the goal they aim to achieve. ■ Schedule times to produce
mind that often this new information
and review reports on these
at your disposal is just surface level
measurements; find out
‘vanity metrics’.
what’s working and if things
This is because no matter how much data is available to you, it can only ever be of value if (a) you know how to interpret it and (b) your key performance indicators (KPIs) are in place. So, although it can be tempting to get distracted by the data provided by tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics, it’s important to go through the following process before you try to delve into the data: ■ As a business, establish a clear idea of what you need your marketing to achieve. ■ Once these specific business goals are established, you
aren’t working, why this is the case. ■ Recalibrate what you’re doing to reflect the outcome of your analysis and recommendations – there is no point taking the time to produce these measurements if you don’t adjust your marketing activities to reflect the feedback. When marketing activities are based on achieving business
