Measure, Measure, Measure

There are many things in our life that would fall flat if we opted not to use measurements: Everything from home construction to a load of laundry would be a bit off kilter if not for the rulers, cups, and spoons that allow us to be precise with our intentions.

Strange that for several generations, then, that in the advertising and marketing arena, the only measurement used was in dollars and cents. Along the way, there would be creative campaigns, print ads, billboards, and radio commercials, with no means to really measure whether they were hitting the mark.

Sure, there were some arbitrary statistics that the media companies used – reach, frequency, etc. – that purported to give us a measure of exposure – but we truly didn’t know whether that creative piece of information did anything to move the needle.

Today, the power of digital has unlocked insights like never before – literally, we can measure a turn of a phrase, or a singular image in a larger piece of creative content, and gauge whether the word or image is responsible for buying behaviors. It has led to this: A fully integrative marketing communications plan—replete with a measurement process—is not only necessary; it is the only way a business can continue to improve its marketing efforts.

In this blog series, we have explored everything that is at stake when it comes to an investment in contemporary marketing programs. We understand the role of all of our players in creating compelling creative, and how to outshine our competitors on the road to success. But how do we really know if we’re on track?

Every creative campaign should be designed with a measurement methodology in place, so results are quantifiable. As each campaign is completed, measurements will allow a business leader to fine-tune messages to accurately reach prospects. A business can improve anything it can measure! If the business does not measure results, no one will be able to track performance and goals may not be reached.

OK, so considering I have convinced you – where to start? I realize that if you google “marketing measurement,” you may end up quite overwhelmed! That said, the process of measurement need not be hopelessly complex to be effective. Here are some simple steps you can employ to get started:

1. Pre-measurement prep: You want your website to deliver data like an insight machine! Now’s the time to install tracking programs throughout your site so you can mate your marketing messages with data on the people who view them, click them, and end up on your site.
   
   
2. Keyword setup: Think of keywords as the mechanism that unlocks the traffic to your site. Working with your marketing team, thoroughly explore the words that your customer most likely will be using to search for you online. You might consider enlisting the help of a contracted digital specialist, who can simply run some analytics to uncover thousands of potential iterations for keyword searches. But use caution – don’t pick the most obvious words to capture in your paid click campaign – you will find your budget will be quickly consumed.
   
   
3. Develop ads relevant to the keywords: With a distilled list of keywords in hand, use these as a framework around which to build your content. Be sure to sprinkle these keywords into whatever you create, so your website and campaigns will be more effective.
   
   
4. “Bake in” the tools to analyze your activity: Here are some tools I recommend for different types of content and creative:

a. Email marketing: Many of the leading email marketing tools, like MailChimp, include basic measurement tools like opens, clickthroughs, bounces and the like in their monthly subscription price.

b. Social media: Tools like Sprout Social give you a dashboard with information about who interacted with your organic and paid posts, and who did something actionable (Retweeted, forwarded, clicked, etc.)

c. Financial integration: There are a variety of tools that interface with Salesforce and other CRM systems that offer data such as margin return, or lifetime value per ad spend, without having to reinvent the wheel.

d. Internet advertising: An investment in pay-per-click programs, like Google AdWords, includes free tools like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to drill down into a variety of success metrics.

With the right insights, keywords, and methods of measurement, you can be assured that you won’t be burning your marketing resources with blinders on. In the final blog of our series, we’ll talk about how to motivate your team to perform marketing miracles, again and again.

In case you missed the previous articles in the series:

• Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Six
• Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO's Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Five
• Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO's Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Four
• Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Three
• Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Two
• Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership