There’s a problem: your running ads, sending emails, posting on social, delivering postcards, coordinating events, etc. and you don’t know 𝘸𝘩𝘺. Or perhaps that’s an unfair statement. We all know 𝘸𝘩𝘺. It’s marketing, right?

That’s the whole point!—“shake the tree,” seek attention, and 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 for results. Or… could 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 be a costly idea? (I think the latter.)

The point being, if your marketing activities aren’t tied to clear metrics, then, quite simply, your guess is as good as mine. Increase the budget or don’t. Post it or don’t. Run the campaign or don’t.

Entirely too many marketing dollars are being spent blindly... and here’s why:

1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲. When you post a video on social, distribute postcards, or plan a client appreciation event--whatever it is--decide on the purpose of that effort (e.g. brand awareness, lead generation, etc.). Likewise, decide who’s it for (i.e., your target audience).

2️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱. You need metrics, period! In view of your objective, pick a key performance indicator (KPI) that shows whether a campaign is achieving its goal. So if an ad was designed to drive traffic to your website, for instance, measure clicks or page loads?

What’s the score? If you don’t know, chances are (no offense), you’re loosing :-(

3️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Every now and again, reevaluate if what you’re doing is the best mix. For example, postcards are time-tested and effective. That said, it’s about $0.35 a stamp. For roughly the same cost as one postcard, you could reach over 100 people w/ targeted banner ads on the Google Display Network. I’m not saying the two are necessarily comparable (or that you should stop sending out postcards -- don’t mishear me!), just that maybe you ought to evaluate what get’s you the best return.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing?