Executives and business owners are usually data-driven by nature, and it's no surprise that one of the phrases we hear most often goes something like:
"I want to invest $1 and get $3 back."
Or for the really ambitious...
"I want to invest $1 and get $10 back!"
If you want your business to grow, your marketing dollars can't go to waste. So, how can you measure your marketing return on investment?
1. Focus on Inbound Marketing
Thanks to the Internet, marketing has changed for the better over the past few years. Instead of relying on cold calls, trade shows, and TV ads to generate leads, marketers now rely on smarter methods to get new customers. By using your website, social media, blog, SEO and other digital methods to create a two-way conversation with your prospects, you can earn your buyers' trust, making them more likely to engage with you and buy your products.
The numbers prove that inbound works, too. Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than outbound marketing. According to the 2015 State of inbound report by HubSpot, "Every company we surveyed -- regardless of marketing spend -- was three times as likely to see a higher ROI on inbound marketing campaigns than on outbound."
2. Develop Buyer Personas
Buyer personas are fictionalized representations of who your ideal customers might be. It's important to establish buyer personas for your business so you can segment your audience and create stronger marketing campaigns. As just one example of how using buyer personas can improve your marketing return on investment, "utilizing buyer personas in email campaigns glean 2x the open rate and 5x the click through rate" (BrightTALK).
Free Template: Create Buyer Personas for Your Business
3. Blog, and Blog Often!
Blogging isn't just for technology enthusiasts and stay-at-home moms. It's a powerful business tool. Nearly 40% of US companies use blogs for marketing. But just having a blog isn't enough. You need to blog consistently and often to achieve ROI from your efforts.
- 92% of companies who blogged multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog.
- Companies that blog 15+ times per month get 5x more traffic than companies that don't blog regularly.
- Companies that increase blogging from 3-5x/month to 6-8x/month almost double their leads.
- An average company will see a 45% growth in traffic when increasing total blog articles from 11-20 to 21-50
But who has time to write all these blog posts?
When you're busy managing the day-to-day operations of your business, it's easy for blogging to take a back seat. We recommend using an editorial calendar to distribute the workload across your staff, or engaging with an agency partner to help you churn out content.
4. Use Email Marketing
With the rise of communication tools like Slack, and the preference of younger people for texting over email, it's easy for email marketing to get a bad rap. The truth is, email is still the backbone of business communications and 59% of B2B marketers say email is the most effective channel in generating revenue.
Send personalized, relevant emails to your customers and prospects and measure which messages get the most opens, clicks and response.
5. Try Marketing Automation
Marketing automation involves sending triggered email messages and other activities to your contacts. For example, if someone downloads a whitepaper on your website, they could receive a series of 4-5 emails over the next couple of weeks with similar educational content. Since 50% of qualified leads are not ready to purchase immediately, marketing automation helps you stay top of mind while they are going through their decision-making process. Companies that automate lead management see a 10% greater increase in revenue in 6-9 months.
