With marketing, there can be many goals behind any particular campaign.
It’s easy to get swept up in the idea of a new exciting marketing campaign. You’re ready to generate leads, or direct sales, leveraging new snappy ad copy, or by a entering a new marketing channel, like Bing Organic Search. You run the campaign, the ad dollars get spent, and then you’re left wondering, “What did we get from this?” Well, you’re not alone. It’s tough tracking even high-level metrics like revenue down to the dollar. Digital advertising like Google Ads, makes this easier with Conversion Tracking and CPC metrics, as opposed to physical billboard signage. But there’s more to the numbers than what meets the eye. Let’s not forget the ‘micro-conversions’ a user makes along the way.
Micro-conversions, such as Newsletter Signups, significant website engagement (4+ page views per session), social media likes/follows, and more — are often overlooked.
These are super important interactions to monitor over time to better understand campaign ROI. For example, say a campaign costs $1,000 to run. A combination of PPC ads, and social media content are created, distributed, and reported on. At first glance, we may want to only review how many leads it drove. Maybe one, or ten, or a hundred, and how much revenue in dollars that it drove. But how many new followers on Facebook did it drive? Newsletter subscriptions? Increased activity on posts? What about reach? And then, what is the value/per each of these metrics? This simple calculation can be a windfall of insight.
We need to remember that first-time visitors don’t always buy. Humans like to window shop.
We like kicking tires. Some of us want to be wined and dined. We’re waiting for that better deal, a newer release, a competitor special. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re doing it. That’s why support structures, such as re-targeting ads, follow-up with emails, phone calls, and messages, come in handy. They close the deal by pushing the users down the funnel. It’s not always about the one-time visit and sale. It’s about the long term relationship built with the user, and creating value for them over time. Metrics like share of voice, and reach give us better insight into these concepts.
It’s important to review campaign performance holistically. Judging by one or two metrics is a fast way to assume performance, and thereby dictate future activity. What if the campaign that was deemed a “failure” actually drove significant value over time? These snap decisions can do more harm than good. We always recommend reviewing the data, which is why we’ve integrated powerful SEO reporting tools like RavenTools, Slack, and more.
Ready for a test-drive? Give us a call, or contact us to get started with advanced reporting and analytics techniques in your marketing campaigns!
