Why do you invest your dollars in marketing your company? If you’re like most small business owners it’s because you want to get more customers. But are your marketing efforts paying off? If you want to be more efficient, profitable and successful with your marketing dollars then it’s critical you understand what you need to measure and how to measure it.
Marketing is frustrating to measure. The different pieces and parts can seem overwhelming and business leaders end up not even sure what to measure in the first place; or if they do, they just don’t know how.
Since most companies want to get more customers, that’s what they try to measure by evaluating two common components:
- How many leads they are getting
- How many actual customers they are getting
Customers don’t just come out of thin air. They have to come from somewhere. First, it’s crucial to understand what stage they are at in the buyer’s journey:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Decision
Each potential customer you come in contact with is at one of the above stages. Think of your business as a storefront. Some people are just walking by, some people window shop, some come in and browse, some you get to talk to and some actually buy what you are selling.
Leads and customers are both important, but they are only two pieces of the puzzle. To see the entire picture, you need a system to help improve results. What actually needs to be measured in your marketing to help you get more customers – and has even more significance if you’re measuring your inbound marketing efforts – is:
- Traffic – these are the people who actually came into your store. In online terms, they visited your website.
- Prospect/Leads – these are the people who expressed any kind of interest at all in the product or service you have to offer. They downloaded an offer on your website, filled out a form, called your company, etc.
- Qualified Leads – these are people you actually get to have a conversation with because they are interested in your business.
- Customers – the number of sales you make.
- Returning Customers – the number of customers that keep coming back, renew their contracts, give referrals, etc.
- Referrals – the people that heard about you from other customers, vendors, etc.
In today’s online world inbound marketing is an extremely effective way to get more customers. Measuring the 6 areas above will help you determine how well you are functioning in each area, and at what stage in the buyer’s journey your business needs to focus its marketing efforts.
Knowing what to measure and how to measure it helps you determine where to focus your marketing so you‘re investing your marketing dollars wisely, which will ultimately help your business get more customers.
Do you want help seeing the big picture of how well your business is currently measuring its marketing efforts? Are you ready to improve your results by identifying the areas of your marketing to focus on? Half a Bubble Out can help you get more customers by measuring your marketing so your dollars are invested in a marketing plan that is efficient and effective.
Since 2002, Half a Bubble Out has been dedicated to providing marketing, advertising and small business consulting that meet the needs of our clients. We specialize in powerfully telling stories through Inbound Marketing to grow your business filled with more passion and provision. Based in Chico California, we serve clients throughout Northern California and across the country to New York.
