The Year That Was
With the new year now beginning, now is the right time to assess all the progress you’ve made in marketing your firm and look at those you should continue and new ways to make progress in the year ahead.
There is a simple, yet effective, way to achieve this. You should take a good look at your activity versus the subsequent results. It includes all the things you’ve done in your marketing strategy and who has participated, against the effects that this has brought. Naturally, the results are the more important measure.
So, let’s take a look at all the ways to measure your marketing success that leaves an impact on your brand awareness and all the potential future achievements.
The main ways of evaluating your marketing strategy
There are several things that you need to take a good look at, but you also need to continually review them, as marketing is an ever-moving and evolving thing and when frequently checked and improved, it can yield surprising results.
- The number of leads
The best measure of success for any marketing activity is the number of leads it generates. Remember, that marketing and sales are completely different so, marketers focus on generating interest and enquiry, while sales / business development focuses on converting these enquiries into new work. It is probably the most basic way of seeing what the results of your strategy are. As long as the numbers are rising and attaining an upward trend, you know that your marketing plan is working.
Additionally, you need to make sure that you’re following the right numbers, the ones that matter to your specific goals.
- ROI
Return on Investment is an important metric you always need to check. The money you put into the marketing efforts must yield profits, or it’s all done in vain.
Your ROI shouldn’t be only about an overall success; you should also make a specific calculation for each initiative to see what’s working and what is not.
- Partner feedback
The people on the front lines, i.e. your marketing partners as well as the partners of your firm, often know more about the results of your marketing strategies than you. And as well, they usually know them before you.
Their feedback can show you how effective your strategies are when compared to associated suppliers, vendors, and brands.
- Client feedback
The online surveys you conduct and the one-on-one conversations with clients can offer you an insight into the overall effectiveness of your marketing strategy, but also on the efficacy of specific things you did within your marketing plan. It will also tell you a lot about other areas of your firm; service delivery, customer service, value and more. Remember to feed this information back to those who deliver in each area and to those who can make changes to act on the results.
- Social media engagement and growth
We all have to face it; social media is one of, if not the most effective way of growing a business. You know it by now, and you’re certainly employing effective tactics that will improve your social media marketing.
If you’re active and delivering quality material, your numbers are bound to improve, but you need to watch them regularly, view the number of followers, their engagement and more.
All these things can contribute to making your next year’s marketing plan even more effective, as well as feed improvement insights back into other areas of your firm. Contact the Thought Leadership Initiative for more info and to get the help you need that will give a big boost to your digital marketing efforts.