Marketing strategy is an extremely important component of an enterprise, no matter what type of business you run. It mainly involves reaching out to your target audience and converting them into customers to generate more revenue for the company.
However, although there are several ways to approach marketing, not all strategies are effective. And since you most certainly don’t want to splurge your money into something unproductive, it’s always a good idea to evaluate marketing strategies regularly to ensure that they’re getting the results you want for your business.
Unfortunately, some companies don’t examine the results of their advertising methods, or more precisely—they can’t. There are several factors to consider, and there aren’t many metrics to work with. So, how can one affirm that their marketing method is indeed working?
This article discusses several factors that would indicate if a company’s marketing strategy is on the right path. Read on to familiarize yourself with these factors.
1. Favorable Website Metrics
If your business runs its own website, it should be a lot easier to determine if your marketing strategy is on the right track. This is mainly because websites typically have a built-in feature that allows the owner to view several metrics, all of which have something to do with how well the website is doing. These may include the following:
- Number of new vs. returning visitors
- Average time per visit
- Average page views per visit
Generally, if these metrics are increasing, it means your website is performing exceptionally well. But if you want to determine if it’s due to your marketing strategy, you might want to pay close attention to the number of new visitors and returning visitors.
If the website gets more new visitors, it’s most likely because your recent marketing campaign was a success. On the other hand, if what’s increasing is the number of returning visitors, it’s more likely that your customer retention strategy is effective, though marketing might still have something to do with it.
Either way, some tools can compute these parameters free of charge, while others can do so at a cost. Of course, paid analytics would have additional features, like real-time monitoring and analytics, so it’s worth investing.
Related reading: How to gain insights about your website traffic
2. Changes In The Website Traffic Source
Apart from the aforementioned metrics, you can also use a website builder’s built-in analytics and reporting feature to check on the different sources of your website traffic, such as:
- Organic search
- Direct
- Referral
- Paid search
- Social
- Affiliates
By looking into these parameters, you can determine which source is yielding the greatest number of visitors. This can be extremely useful if you want to know if your marketing strategy is on the right track. Suppose you started an email marketing campaign. If you’re not seeing any changes in the number of visitors coming from emails, chances are the campaign flunked, either because the strategy wasn’t effective or email marketing simply doesn’t work with your audience. Either way, it’s one of the most obvious signs of your marketing strategy’s success.
3. High Social Media Page Activity
One of the many ways to advertise your business is by organizing event shows. It allows you to establish connections, announce the release of new products, and gain recognition.
Suppose you recently held a social event for marketing purposes. In that case, its success should be apparent if the company’s social media page became more active than usual in the days following the event. It’s also worth checking if internet users are still using the hashtag you used for the event. If so, chances are your event has left a long-lasting impression among these individuals.
Of course, this applies to all types of social media marketing campaigns. If, for example, you held a competition on your Facebook company page, and it promptly experiences a surge of activity days later, you can be sure that your marketing campaign was a success.
4. Positive Return On Investment
Apart from the metrics, you can find in website builders and social media platforms, your company must also have its own metrics, which most people call KPIs or Key Performance Indicators. Of course, KPI serves the same purpose as the metrics mentioned above—to determine if the company is performing well. Here are some examples of company KPIs:
- Sales growth
- Return on investment
Return on investment (ROI), in particular, is one of the critical metrics that indicates the level of success of a specific project. That’s why it’s a key concern in every marketing campaign. By checking your ROI, you can determine whether the money you’re putting into a marketing campaign is worth the cost. There are several ways to calculate your ROI, but perhaps the easiest method is by subtracting the marketing cost from the sales growth.
For example, if your sales are normally at USD$50,000, and now it’s USD$70,000, the sales growth would be USD$20,000. If you spent around USD$10,000, this means your ROI for this marketing campaign is positive. This, in turn, indicates that your current marketing strategy is working. Otherwise, you might want to consider switching to a different approach.
Related reading: How to determine you ROI of Account-Based-Marketing?
5. Positive Responses From Surveys
An online survey is a cost-friendly method that allows business owners to receive honest and straightforward responses about their business or its products and services. Companies often use online surveys to collect feedback on whether customers or prospects know about a particular product and how they got to hear of it. Another sign that your marketing strategy is on the right path is when you’re getting mostly positive feedback from these surveys.
More specifically, if most of the participants affirm that they heard about the product due to your marketing campaign, then it’s safe to assume that your strategy was successful in terms of attaining brand recognition or awareness. You can also figure out which marketing channel is working best and which is performing poorly by simply including these questions in the survey.
6. High Customer Lifetime Value
It’s a well-established fact that the more customers you gain from a campaign, the more successful it is. But it’s also worth noting that marketing doesn’t only focus on quantity.
Quality is also an essential component of a marketing strategy’s success, and what better way to measure quality than by looking into a customer lifetime value or CLV. In marketing, customer lifetime value is a metric that defines how much value a specific customer brings to your business, or more specifically, the money they spend on your business.
If a customer spent a considerable amount of money on their first purchase, then you can confidently say that you got a high-quality customer from your campaign, and this says a lot about your strategy. The same can be said if they’ve been with your business for a long time.
7. Customers From Foreign Countries
An expanding market reach is the product of successful marketing schemes. If word of your business is reaching farther than you expected, then it should be a result of an exceptional marketing strategy. You can get a general idea of how well you’re doing in this regard by looking into the number of customers that are from foreign countries. You can also look into customers from other regions if you only recently started using your current marketing strategy.
8. Marketing Partner’s Positive Feedback
A company’s marketing professionals give responses on whether a marketing method is succeeding or not. They will reveal efficiency if a business’s efforts connect to associated suppliers, brands, and vendors. Members outside the business team often experience successful campaigns since they are on the front line with better buyer interaction. Therefore, if your marketing experts give positive feedback, your marketing strategy is on the right path. On the contrary, when they request you to change your mode of advertising, don’t hesitate.
9. Positive Feedback From Salespeople Outside
This is another barometer to prove whether a marketing strategy is successful. Salespeople can usually give useful information on the performance and efficiency of an advertising method. If they inform you that customers know your products, including the newest ways you’re using to advertise, the marketing strategy is on the right track. Still, if you get negative responses, maybe it’s time to change your method of advertising.
10. Actions That Competitors Take
Are other businesspeople copying your marketing methods? Are you seeing more of your strategy from your competitors? Remember, the goal of every corporation is to stay ahead of its competitors. If your competitors are rushing to keep up with your marketing strategy, that should be enough reason to believe that your marketing strategy is on the right path. Similarly, if your campaigns are ignored or are receiving negative responses, you might be using the wrong strategy.
Related Reading: How to spy on your competitors marketing
Takeaway
To sum up, marketing strategies are the blueprints of a company’s success. They shouldn’t only be set and evaluated, but must also be reviewed and constantly adjusted to match the needs of the buyers and the company. Assessing whether a marketing plan is producing the best results is vital. Companies should always do this to save both time and money for their business. If you’re sure how to measure the success of your marketing schemes, this article should be a huge help.