5 steps to marketing ROI and measuring results

We all want to make sure we get the best return on our marketing investment, whether it is advertising, email marketing, telemarketing or any other type of lead generation activity.  There are very few business people who would seriously debate that point – you want to make sure that every pound is well-spent.

The ability to measure marketing results is one of the key marketing skills that any business should be continually trying to improve.  Why, then, do we see companies marketing and not doing enough to properly measure the results?  In business, as well as in life in general, there is a well-used management process that goes something like this:

  1. Plan
  2. Execute
  3. Review
  4. Return to step 1

Each time we move through this loop, we should be getting better at what we do. Carrying out each step thoroughly is important if this approach is to work for you.

Now, focussing on step 3 – Review, let’s take a look at the 5 key steps to help you measure the results of your marketing efforts to achieve ROI on your marketing spend.

Step 1 – Know the size of your opportunity

Time spent researching the size of your market will pay dividends.  How else can you know whether, for example, 150 new business leads per year is a good performance or not?  If your market is very specific, there might only be 300 companies you can sell to.  In this case, 150 leads is excellent. However, if your potential market is 3,000 companies, you need to look closely at how you are targeting your marketing.

Step 2 – Build in your measurement method

Ensure your ‘review’ step is based on hard facts rather than opinion.  Build into each campaign a way of measuring your success.  This is especially true if you are running a range of campaigns through a selection of media (which you should be).

A letter-based campaign could include a tear-off or fax-back that carries a reference number.  This will enable you to track how many enquiries come back from each campaign.

You can do the same for your email marketing campaigns by using landing pages on your web site to count and track those that click on your embedded links.

If/when you receive inbound sales enquiries, build in a question to find out where the prospect heard about you – and equally important, make sure this information is properly summarised and reported.

Step 3 – Measure through to the sale

Sometimes a marketing campaign that yields a good number of enquiries can result in very few appointments or sales.  Measuring only enquiries will mislead you into doing more of the same campaign activity – whereas if you track each campaign through to sales, you might make a different decision.

Step 4 – Review your results regularly…

Measuring your marketing campaign results is just part of it – take time to review the results and decide what they are telling you.  Aim to do this at least once per month.

Step 5 – Have an open mind

One of the big benefits of measuring your results properly is that it takes away much of the ‘opinion’ about what is the right marketing.  You may well have people in your company who ‘swear by’ a particular way of marketing.  Quite simply, measurement will either support that opinion or it will not… and the evidence will be clear.

So, if you want to focus on the key marketing skills that your business needs in order to prosper, take a close look at how all this could apply to you.