Perhaps you think we should have written an article about being scared of marketing ROI closer to the end of October, right? However, after listening to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and the reference to telling scary ghost stories I decided I could roll with this article in December.
So for our scary story, I wanted to talk about marketing ROI. ROI is frightening for a few reasons. It can be challenging to measure and can kill some favorite tactics. But the terrifying thing is that if you don’t measure it, you may be wasting time and effort. Remember that regular corporations ask, “How much does it cost”? Great companies ask, “What is the ROI”?How can we deal with ROI and not be scared of it? How do we get to the stage where measuring marketing ROI is something we look forward to, instead of dreading? That is our goal for the day.
What We Should Measure
There are ways that we can measure marketing ROI that make us look good and ways that we measure ROI that have actual results. Which ones are you using? Likes on Facebook are rarely something that gets the C-level excited. Looking for better and more accurate ways to measure marketing return on investment is essential.
Regular corporations ask, “How much does it cost”? Great companies ask, “What is the ROI”?
One of the best ROI metrics, in my opinion, are Marketing Qualified Leads or MQL’s. An MQL is a lead that is more likely to become a customer vs. your other prospects. There are a variety of demographics on the lead that you can do to determine who is more likely to become a customer. You can research your CRM or talk to sales to get their opinion. Or even better, do both.
After you determine what metrics you will use to measure your ROI then you need to set your goals. If you don’t set goals how will you know when you are hitting it out of the park?
Use Tactics that Create Better ROI
Did you know that marketing video is the number one tactic that marketers across the world use for the best ROI. What are you using to generate the best ROI?
Have you measured past campaigns and strategies to decide where you get the best ROI? Is it from content creation, video, live events or a combination of tactics?
Now start to focus on creating more of the campaigns that lead to success in the past. Instead of just doing a cookie cutter look at your tactics, see what you have learned and figure out a way that you can make them better.
Multiply Your Marketing Efforts with Tools for ROI
Use tools that help you maximize your ROI. Inbound marketing analytics and automation can help you measure your ROI and help you achieve the metrics you want. A good inbound marketing platform (we use Hubspot) can help you not only analyze your efforts but also give you plans to make it better the next time.
Inbound marketing also helps you capture and educate your leads, putting them on the road to consider your solution.
Want to learn more about Inbound marketing, get our Intro to Inbound Marketing here and see how it can help you with your Marketing ROI.