How big of a role do marketing metrics play in your company’s growth and profitability? And how can you figure out which metrics matter – and which ones don’t?
Many business owners struggle to understand how marketing metrics influence their company’s bottom line.
In this article, we explain the role marketing metrics really play in your business and why measuring the right ones is so important for your online success.
What are Marketing Metrics?
Marketing metrics are measurable values that are used to assess and demonstrate campaign performance across all marketing channels.
Here are a few examples of marketing metrics you and your team could consider tracking.
1. Email marketing
Open rates: How many people opened your email
Click-through rates: How many people took action and clicked on a link in your email
Earnings per click: How much income one click on an email/link is generating
2. Content marketing
Traffic: How much traffic did a new piece of content bring to your site
Conversions: How many people became a customer after taking a certain action
User demographics: Key metrics describing your target audience, like age, gender, and geographic location
3. Social media
Reach: The number of people who saw your content
Engagement: The number of people who took action to interact with your content
Conversions: How many people became a customer after taking a certain action
The Role of Marketing Metrics Today
The role of marketing metrics has changed in recent years due to the rise of data-based marketing and the increasing complexity of distribution channels.
The emergence of data-based marketing has given companies an incredible amount of data about the patterns and behaviors of their target audience.
To remain competitive in today’s marketplace, businesses have to find an efficient, reliable way of monitoring and analyzing all of this data.
This task is made even more difficult by the increased number of channels businesses use to communicate with their customers.
How can you know which channels you need to focus on? How can you tell which ones are a waste of time?
The answer lies in knowing which marketing metrics to focus most of your attention on.
You should not underestimate the role marketing metrics play in your business – especially because focusing on the wrong metrics can prove detrimental to your long-term success.
The Importance of Analyzing the Right Marketing Metrics
1. Improve predictions
By measuring and analyzing the right marketing metrics, you can predict campaign performance before you even press “Send” on that first email.
Instead of crossing your fingers and hoping your approach works, you can use marketing metrics to strategically design a campaign that is guaranteed to be a hit with your audience.
How can you do that? By getting to know your target audience really, really well.
Focus on analyzing metrics related to demographic and psychographic factors and strive to continuously improve upon your existing buyer personas.
2. Maximize return on investment (ROI)
While measuring marketing metrics is an investment in itself, it is one that will pay for itself after just a couple of months.
Once you know that a particular strategy works for your target audience, you can focus the bulk of your resources there to maximize ROI and cut unnecessary spending elsewhere.
3. Demonstrate success
A strong focus on marketing metrics is the only way to justify your decisions and demonstrate your capabilities to key stakeholders and potential investors.
You always need to be able to demonstrate the business value of your marketing decisions.
Otherwise, what is the point of spending money on them?
But what if your campaign wasn’t a success?
Try to turn bad campaigns into good data.
Even if your campaign flops, the ability to analyze what went wrong (and what you can do better) is going to give you valuable insights about your target audience.
The Consequences of Measuring the Wrong Marketing Metrics
Not all metrics are created equal.
Your chosen metrics should always be tied to your primary objective.
For most businesses, their primary objective will be connected to their revenue.
That’s why focusing on “vanity metrics” like Twitter shares and Instagram likes can go incredibly wrong.
While these metrics help increase brand awareness and polish the online presence of your company, they can be very difficult to tie to your ROI.
If you are focusing on these metrics, you may fail to notice important revenue trends and red flags which indicate you need to change your marketing approach.
And if you are trying to demonstrate your company’s value to investors?
Facebook likes alone won’t do it.
How Handmade SEO Can Help
Measuring the wrong marketing metrics can prove detrimental to your company’s success online.
If you are not sure which marketing metrics you should be paying attention to, check out our free Digital Marketing Assessment.
It will show you exactly which aspects of your business to focus on to maximize performance and profit.
Did we mention it’s completely free?
