Five
Tips for Measurable Marketing Results
If you’re like most marketing communications professionals,
you have to validate your marketing budget over and over again.
It can be difficult to track marketing campaign results, and even
more difficult to determine a real Return on Investment (unless
you’re “slashing prices” and issuing discount
coupons). So, after you’re done explaining the difference
between sales and marketing to your CFO, try a few of these ideas
to help you measure results...
Don’t Go Anywhere
Without a Call-to-Action
It may seem like a simple enough concept, but many campaigns are missing
a Call-to-Action. A clear directive makes it easier to determine that
your audience sought you out because of a specific service…that
you just happened to mention in your entire year’s ad campaign.
Use Unique URLs
If every ad you place and every brochure you hand out draws people
to your website, great! Except, how do you know which ones worked
and which ones didn’t? Using a distinct URL for each ad campaign
or marketing effort will help you determine which promotions were
successful. A unique URL is also easier to remember, and can be
tied more closely to a specific campaign message. A more low-tech
way to get the same effect is to list a separate phone number or
a fake point-of-contact (of course, you need to let your staff
know who Shirley Buyfrumus is).
Be a Traffic Cop
Now that you have a knockout ad campaign with a unique URL, it’s time to
run some reports on your web traffic! Readily available web analysis tools will
help you determine which pages of your website people are visiting. If you see
traffic spike on the pages you called out in your ads, then you know your efforts
are working.
Unlock the Hidden Value in Media Kits
Publication Media Kits are usually chock full of readership information.
Knowing the subscriber numbers and your total advertising budget
is enough to give you a quick cost-per-impression for your print
campaign. Not only does this give you good ammo for budgeting discussions,
it may also point out where you could be spending money more wisely.
Start Measuring Conference Leads
Ah… the conference “boondoggles.” In many organizations,
people expect as much ROI from a conference trip as they do from
the imprinted stress balls they hand out to attendees. It doesn’t
have to be that way! Make sure your annual conference budget has
a specific goal and plan your trip accordingly. Launching a new service
line? Take giveaways imprinted with a unique URL. Going after a new
market? Track your annual conference spending and compare it to any
new client revenue in that market.
Marketing is a team effort and results aren’t
often easily assignable to one campaign over another. Applying a
few of these ideas may help clear up some of the questions and help
your department earn some long overdue credit!
* * *
w•inktips is published by Bremmer & Goris
Communications. Each issue is packed with information and useful
insights into marketing design and communications issues that
affect your business life.
© 2007 Bremmer
& Goris Communications. All rights reserved.
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