It can be incredibly frustrating to work on a marketing campaign and not see the results you anticipated. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon. A campaign that sounded like a great idea can turn out to be a dud. 

The backbone of any successful marketing strategies campaign is ROI or return on investment. This is the factor that can measure the efficacy of your marketing efforts. However, it requires a bit of work on the front end to set up and then track how each customer found your business adequately. That’s probably why only 25% of marketers are collecting customer data. (Source: Forbes Insights and Turn) 

Marketing just to market is never a good idea. Everything you do should have supporting data to back the investment you make. Knowing what works and what doesn’t can help you make smarter marketing decisions, reduce marketing waste, and quickly grow your business. 

Why marketing tracking is critical for business

If a customer calls, do you ask them how they found you? 

Companies that place marketing data at the forefront of their decision making improve their ROI by 15-20%. 

If your marketing budget is the SBA recommended 7% of gross revenue, you can support your investment and see a profit of at least 8% by tracking your marketing. That means your marketing is free if you do the work. 

Yes, work is involved, but it is well worth the effort. We provide our clients with marketing strategies data through monthly reports on social media and SEO. This information is beneficial but incomplete. You must also contribute by learning how to track the inquiries you receive.

Many businesses believe their marketing efforts bring in new customers, but few can provide data to support their claims. According to a 2015 Forbes Insights Report, only 22% of marketers have data-driven marketing that achieves significant results. 

How to begin tracking your marketing efforts

5 marketing strategies to help you succeed:

1. Set goals. The first step towards using data to drive marketing success is to set goals. What do you want to achieve this year? How much do you want to grow? Do you want to bring in more of a particular type of customer? Do you want to grow a product or service within your business? 
2. Understand your target audience. Use demographics to make decisions about which marketing vehicles are most relevant. Market where your customers play and avoid tactics that are irrelevant to your target. 
3. Determine your customer lifetime value. What is a customer worth to your business? If you make an average of $1000 per customer and spend $2000 on an advertisement every month, you should be bringing in at least two new customers each month from the ad. If you aren’t, you need to consider changing the ad or going another direction. 
4. Use insights from related campaigns to inform another. Data from Google PPC can help inform on SEO. Implementing new marketing tactics can be a little scary without data. But related data can help guide your decisions. Remember, marketing is fluid. You can always stop if something isn’t working. 
5. Ask your customers how they found you. Asking this critical question is the easiest way to track results. The reason you market is to grow with new customers, so don’t be shy. Ask every single inquiry how they found you. Dig a bit. If they tell you the internet, ask where on the internet. What keywords did they use? Was it Facebook? Instagram?  If they say it was word of mouth, get the name of the person who referred them and send a thank you to that person. Create an item in your database for “source” and fill it out. Ensure you can pull source data in a report to see how customers are finding you.

Using data to help make marketing decisions allows you to manage your marketing budget more effectively and cut overall spending. If something isn’t working, stop doing it and divert those marketing dollars toward something that may or is presently working better. Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Making decisions based on data will help ensure your investment is well spent.