Measuring marketing campaign effectiveness is crucial for more reasons than you may think. Sometimes (like knowing how much sugar is in your Starbucks coffee), ignorance is bliss. However, unlike the sugar content of our favorite drinks, marketing metrics shouldn’t be ignored.
Typically, a lack of measurement leads to negative consequences. These range in missed opportunities such as a lack of customer awareness and knowledge, loss of accountability and the inability to demonstrate a return on investment (ROI).
This is why, at Resolute, we always provide reports to clients. They greatly differ depending on marketing tactics and goals, but we always value transparency. Regular measurement and analysis are essential – especially when clients’ budgets are at stake.
Aside from transparency, measurement provides insights into marketing performance and gives you data you need to make future marketing-related decisions. At Resolute, we provide campaign recommendations based on what we know works (and what we know doesn’t work) for your specified target audience. We wouldn’t know what to recommend without research on industry benchmarks and analyzing data reports.
Understanding marketing metrics or KPIs
Measure marketing metrics matters. Say that five times fast, and don’t forget it. These key performance indicators (KPIs) should play a vital role in every marketing strategy. Measurement is essential to monitor and track both successes and failures in paid, owned or earned media.
Yes, that’s right. Businesses can learn from both successes and failures. Failure provides learning opportunities to help refine marketing strategies. While it doesn’t happen often, a failed campaign or partnership still yields valuable data into customer behavior and preferences.
As we dive into measuring different marketing channels, it all comes back to evaluating return on investment (ROI). Especially during a potential economic downturn or recession, keeping track of the financial impact of marketing tactics helps businesses allocate resources more effectively.
Also, have you met your new friend, GA4? Be sure to use Google Analytics to monitor website and landing page traffic for increases in visits during or after your marketing campaigns. Check out your acquisition report to see how users find their way to your website.
Digital marketing campaign measurement
The term “data-driven decision-making” is a cliché for a reason. Relying on intuition isn’t a bad thing. We’re definitely on team “trust your gut.” However, in digital campaigns, it’s always preferable to have concrete data to guide a paid strategy.
Digital campaigns encompass various marketing efforts, such as blog posts, ads, social media content and emails. Measurement helps you make informed decisions and measure marketing ROI, whether you’re targeting existing or new customers.
- Conversion rates. Conversion rates are the percentages of visitors who take a desired action. This could range from making a purchase to signing up for a newsletter to navigating to a specifc webpage. Conversion rates are the most tangible way to measure effectiveness, especially when evaluating a customer journey.
- Click-through-rate (CTR). A campaign’s click-through-rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click on an ad’s link compared to the total number of people who saw it. This data point measures the campaign’s engagement levels. A CTR that averages above the industry standard tells us that we’re hitting the correct target audience and the ad resonates. A higher CTR typically means that the creative and messaging is compelling.
How to measure community partnerships and sponsorships
Measuring success of a community partnership looks much different than other marketing tactics. While there are less tangible numbers to track, your brand’s visibility and reach are the true impact. A partnership is a relationship — and you can evaluate it.
Often times, a community partnership involves employee involvement. Allowing employees to volunteer or join community activities (especially during work hours) leads to increased employee satisfaction.
- Brand awareness. Measure brand awareness by assessing metrics such as social media mentions, website traffic and brand recall surveys.
Of course we want to meet your end goal and increase sales or conversions. But partnerships and sponsorships help to gauge the extent to which your target audience recognizes and remembers your brand. And, you can’t buy a product or support a nonprofit if you don’t know it exists.
Measuring media relations
Are your media pitches are truly moving the needle? Count the number of media placements like articles, interviews and features. Tracking a media outlet’s circulation and credibility helps measure your reach and audience exposure.
- Brand mentions. At Resolute, we use tools specifically for media monitoring to track mentions of your brand in news articles and blogs. Assessing media coverage tone helps you uncover if the general sentiment of your brand is positive, negative or neutral.
- Sentiment. Monitoring media tone helps you understand how the public views your brand or business. You can do the same with social media content. When people talk about your brand, is it generally positive, negative or neutral?
It’s no secret that the media landscape is changing. Shrinking newsroom sizes and rapid advances in tech are causing a shift in how people consume media. Staying tuned in to changes like these will ensure you don’t get left behind.
The importance of marketing campaign measurement
Above all, marketing campaign measurement provides a level of needed accountability both within marketing teams, sales teams and between agencies and clients. Resolute provides clear metrics and reports to clients, but it’s not all about the numbers. The numbers tell a story – and an added narration helps provide context to clients, ensuring that we’re working toward our established goals.
Your data from marketing efforts tell a story. Data storytelling goes beyond charts and graphs — and we love charts and graphs. Explaining the “why” and “how” behind the trends provides important context to your marketing campaigns.
Continuous improvement through data analysis is helpful to every part of your customer journey, from existing customers to future supporters. So, after all that, how does your marketing measure up?
