In any business, effective marketing is essential for driving growth and reaching your target audience. But how do you determine whether or not your efforts have paid off? Well, today I'm here to break down 5 key ways you can evaluate your marketing strategies this past year so that you've got a better idea of what tactics are working (and which ones aren't) to make smart adjustments going forward. Let’s get started!
1. Analyze Your Performance Metrics
In the world of business, there are a few things more important than understanding your performance metrics. Knowing how well you’re performing, beyond just sales—and why—is essential to developing a successful marketing strategy. But with so much data to sift through, it can be tough to know where to start. Fortunately, analyzing your performance metrics doesn’t have to be complicated; it just takes a little bit of organization and planning.
What are Performance Metrics?
Performance metrics are measurements that help you gauge how well your company is doing in terms of sales, customer service, and other factors that impact your business' success. These include things like customer lifetime value (CLV), website traffic numbers, average order size, conversion rate, and return on investment (ROI). By closely monitoring these metrics and understanding what they mean for your bottom line, you can gain valuable insights into what works—and what doesn’t—for your business strategy.
Top Performance Metrics to Evaluate
With so many different metrics out there, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are some of the top performance metrics to evaluate if you want to get an overall picture of how your company is performing.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
When it comes to business performance evaluation, one of the first metrics you should look at is customer acquisition cost (CAC). This metric tracks how much money it costs to acquire a new customer. To calculate CAC, divide total sales and marketing costs by total customers acquired over a certain period of time. The lower this number is, the better it is for your business since it means that more of your marketing dollars are going towards actually gaining customers instead of just being spent on advertising or other expenses. This metric helps you understand how efficient your sales and marketing efforts are at generating leads and converting them into paying customers or clients. It also helps you identify areas where you can optimize your operations or reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
CLV refers to the total amount of money a customer spends on your products and services over the course of their relationship with your business. But how do you actually go about calculating and tracking your CLV? It’s not as daunting as it seems at first—let’s take a closer look!
Calculating CLV is All About the Data
The most important thing to remember when you are tracking your CLV is that it all comes down to data—the more data, the better. You need to be able to collect and analyze key metrics such as customer acquisition costs, product/service prices, customer churn rate, and lifetime value per customer. With this data in hand, you can start building out an accurate picture of your customers’ buying behaviors and how much they are worth to your company over time.
Using Attribution Models To Track CLV
Once you have collected and analyzed enough data on your customers, you can start using attribution models to track their lifetime value. Attribution models refer to the process of assigning credit for conversions or sales back to different touch points throughout the customer journey.
For example, if someone clicked on an ad from one platform then visited another before making a purchase, both platforms should get credit for that sale. This helps provide a clearer picture of each touchpoint’s individual impact on CLV and allows businesses to make more informed decisions about their marketing strategies moving forward.
Creating Retention Strategies To Increase CLV
The next step is creating retention strategies that will help increase your customers’ lifetime value. This could include offering discounts or rewards programs for loyal customers or providing personalized experiences based on past purchases or browsing history.
Additionally, businesses should consider implementing an automated marketing initiative that target customers who may be at risk of leaving so they can try and retain them before it's too late. All these tactics help keep current customers engaged with your brand while also encouraging new ones to join in as well.
Tracking customer lifetime value isn't rocket science; however, it does require attention and effort if businesses want it done right. By collecting data-driven insights into customer behavior and using attribution models to assign credit properly, businesses can create effective retention strategies that will help them increase their CLV over time. Ultimately, this will lead to more long-term success for any business committed enough to put in the work.
Revenue Per Lead (RPL)
Revenue per lead is an important metric that tells you how much money each lead generates in revenue for your company. To calculate RPL, divide total revenue by the number of leads generated over a given period of time. This metric helps you better understand which sources are generating the most qualified leads so that you can focus more resources on those channels in order to maximize ROI.
Performance Metrics For SEO Marketing
Now let’s talk about your digital marketing strategies. A huge amount of marketing is very specific to this type of marketing, so let’s have a look at what success means specifically for your search engine optimization or SEO strategy. This includes things like website traffic, conversion rate, cost per click (CPC), and social media engagement. Looking at these metrics will give you a clear picture of how effective your digital strategies have been over the course of the year, allowing you to pinpoint areas where improvement is needed.
Here are key performance metrics for SEO that you should look at during your year-end review:
Search Engine Optimization Visibility Score
This metric is a measure of how visible your website is on the search engines and web crawlers. It takes into account factors like the number of times your website appears on search engine result pages (SERPs) and the position of your web pages in those SERPs. A higher visibility score means that more people are likely to see your website when they perform a search query related to your business or product offering.
Organic Traffic
This metric measures the amount of relevant traffic coming from organic (unpaid) sources such as search engine results page or social media platform posts. Organic traffic typically has a higher conversion rate than other forms of website visitors because these visitors are actively looking for something specific when they arrive at your site. The more organic traffic you have, the more likely it is that people will find information about your business or purchase products from you online.
Page Views Per Visit
This metric measures how many pages a user visits during one session on your website. A high page view count per visit indicates that users are engaged with the content on your site and reading multiple articles or web pages before leaving it. This means that users are likely finding useful information during their visits which could lead them down the path towards making a purchase or becoming loyal customers of yours over time.
Time On Site
Measuring how much time users spend on each page or article can give you an idea of whether they are engaging with what they are seeing and reading or if they are quickly leaving after arriving at the page once they realize it isn’t useful for them. The longer users stay on each page, the better chance you have at converting those visitors into customers through follow-up calls-to-action such as subscribing to an email list or visiting other pages within your website related to their interests or needs.
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is another important metric when it comes to understanding user engagement levels with your website content; this metric measures how many people leave after viewing just one page without taking any further action like clicking through other pages or buying something from your online store. A lower bounce rate indicates that users are engaging with more than one page during their visit. This could mean higher conversions over time as those visitors turn into customers through subsequent visits, where they may eventually make a purchase from your online store or sign up for newsletters and updates from you regularly.
Conversion Rate
Finally, measuring conversion rates gives you an insight into how effectively different parts of your marketing campaigns actually are by tracking how many visitors convert into paying customers over time based on various steps taken throughout their journey across different channels such as social media marketing, emails campaigns, and paid advertising. By understanding which channels provide higher conversion rates for certain customers, marketers can tailor their strategies accordingly to ensure maximum ROI from all digital marketing efforts.
Very important: Make data-driven decisions
This means relying on hard facts and figures instead of anecdotal evidence or gut instincts. It might seem counterintuitive, but relying on data can actually save time in the long run by eliminating guesswork and streamlining the decision-making process. The key is to make sure you have access to accurate, up-to-date information that’s easy to interpret.
2. Track Your Competitors
There’s no better way to understand the success of a marketing plan than by keeping an eye on the competition. When your competitors start racing to copy what you’ve been doing, it’s a good sign that your strategy is working. Think of them as the barometer to measure how you’re performing and if others find value in your messages! On the flip side, if your campaigns seem to be going unnoticed, it may be time for some self-reflection. Trading ideas with others in your industry can help ensure success and make sure you stay ahead of the game.
How to Track Your Competitors
There are many different ways to track competitors - from manual methods such as visiting their websites and social media profiles regularly, to more sophisticated approaches such as using analytical tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs that monitor competitor performance over time. Depending on the size of the business, resources available, and budget constraints, each business will have its own ideal approach for tracking its competitors’ activities. In any case, it is important to have a system in place that allows tracking over time so that changes can be monitored easily and quickly.
What Should You Be Tracking
It is important to take note of any changes that may affect your own strategy or tactics such as new products/services offered by competitors; any new pricing or discounting strategies employed; any changes in website design/functionality; any new social media accounts launched; as well as any new advertising campaigns being run by the competition. Keeping track of these things will ensure that your business remains competitive in its industry.
It is also important to keep tabs on how customers respond to each change made by the competition – do they love it or hate it? Keeping track of customer sentiment will provide valuable insights into whether a certain tactic was successful or not – something that cannot be determined simply by looking at sales figures alone!
Finally, keep an eye out for negative events such as customer complaints against competitors (such as those posted on review sites) and negative press coverage regarding their products/services/practices – these could present opportunities for businesses to gain market share if leveraged correctly!
3. Marketing Trends in 2022: How did you fare?
The year 2022 was a major turning point for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. It was the year in which marketing executives, CEOs, and business owners began to understand the power of digital marketing.
But how did your business keep up with all the changes? Let’s take a look at some of the top marketing trends of 2022 and find out how well your business did in keeping up.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is still one of the most important aspects of any successful marketing strategy. In 2022, we saw an increase in visual content such as infographics, videos, and GIFs as well as interactive content such as quizzes, surveys and polls. Were you creative in your content marketing this past year? To stay ahead of the game, were you creating innovative and engaging content that stood out from the crowd?
Social Media Marketing
Social media has become increasingly important when it comes to creating brand visibility and driving sales. This year, we saw an increase in live streaming services such as Instagram Live, Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitch, etc. As social media continues to evolve, did your business focus on building relationships with your target audience? Were you engaging with them on social media platforms?
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is quickly becoming an integral part of any successful marketing campaign. In 2022, we saw a rise in AI-powered chatbots being used for customer service purposes as well as AI-driven analytics tools being used for market research and data analysis. Has your organization considered investing in these SEO tools to help automate processes like lead generation and customer segmentation? Were you able to take advantage of technology to help gain valuable insights into customer behavior patterns?
The world of marketing is constantly evolving so it’s important for businesses to stay ahead of the curve or risk losing out on potential customers or partners who may be using more up-to-date methods than they are currently utilizing. By understanding some of the top trends from this past year—like content creation strategies, leveraging social media platforms effectively and utilizing artificial intelligence—businesses can ensure they remain relevant and competitive going into 2023.
4. Plan to adapt to up-and-coming 2023 marketing trends
Staying current in marketing is essential for success. It can be hard to keep up, especially with the ever-changing trends, but the effort is well worth it. Different strategies will work best in different situations, so take the time to do your research and really think through what approach and tactics will bring you the most success. With a bit of commitment and dedication, keeping up with today's marketing trends doesn't have to be a daunting task.
Identifying trends in the consumer behavior can help you make informed decisions about which tactics should be used and which ones should be avoided altogether in order to maximize ROI (return on investment).
Here are some interesting marketing trends to look out for in 2023:
Voice search tactics for SEO strategy
Voice search is transforming the way marketers approach SEO. As consumers become more comfortable using digital assistants, such as Alexa and Siri, to answer their questions, businesses have responded by structuring their content in a conversational question-and-answer format. This not only makes it easier for people to find what they're looking for on their voice searches, but it also gives them high-quality, accurate answers more quickly.
While consumers have always been able to ask short questions such as "What's the weather in San Diego", we're now starting to see more customized searches. For example, people might ask things like "What coffee shops are open near me?" or "Do they serve chai lattes?" To take full advantage of voice search capabilities, businesses should make sure that their content is framed in a conversational question-and-answer format. This can help ensure that customers get the answers they need quickly and accurately.
Snackable, short-form videos
Short-form videos are becoming increasingly popular among B2C and B2B marketers seeking to reach quick and effective outcomes. When compared to long-form videos, which can take up more time and resources to create, short-form videos offer a concise message and immediate impact. With the addition of entertaining visuals combined with concise copy, viewers are also more likely to engage with these types of videos as opposed to longer ones. Short-form videos really bring out the best in an organization's brand story in an exciting and creative way that is sure to resonate with their audiences.
It's no surprise that YouTube Shorts is smashing records with 1.5 billion monthly active users and 30 billion daily views. And of course, we cannot leave this topic without talking about the one platform that radically changed social media: TikTok.
TikTok has enjoyed unprecedented success over the past couple of years. People are flocking to TikTok—it's easy to watch, fun to use, and incredibly entertaining. From lip-sync videos to gaming clips, Tiktok has something for everyone. What started as a fun passing trend has grown into a global phenomenon, and there's no sign of slowing down! With new features being added continually, TikTok has undoubtedly found its place in our culture.
Not convinced that short-form videos can be effective in your marketing strategy? Check out the incredibly entertaining TikTok account of Canva: https://www.tiktok.com/@canva.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
Connecting our mundane devices to the internet has been a buzzword in recent years, but what does this mean? Enter the Internet of Things (IoT), a network of connected 'things' sharing data over the internet.
As Cisco reports, nearly half a trillion devices are expected to be connected by 2030! For marketers, this means embracing IoT and AI to stay ahead of the curve and deliver omnichannel marketing that speaks to potential buyers. With Alexa and Siri leading the way in integrated home automation, businesses simply can't neglect this opportunity any longer. It's time to get with the program!
Omnichannel marketing
Omnichannel marketing is the concept of using multiple different marketing channels to reach your customers in a more meaningful and personal way. By being present in different online and offline channels such as social media, email campaigns and advertisements, you can significantly increase your reach, relationship with potential customers, engagement rate, and most importantly, conversion rate. Customers now expect companies to have an omnichannel presence for their products or services—one that provides a consistent experience no matter when and where the customer interacts with you. So be sure to evaluate what omnichannel options are best for your business!
5. Get Creative!
The last tip is simple but important: don't forget to get creative! While it's important to stay up-to-date on industry trends and insights, it's equally important not to get too bogged down in data-driven analysis without leaving room for creativity and experimentation in your approach as well! After all, while data can tell us a lot about customer behavior, only creativity can drive engagement with those customers in meaningful ways —ways that ultimately lead to conversions and sales!
Ready for 2023?
Evaluating your marketing strategies from this past year is essential if you want to stay competitive going forward into 2023—but it doesn't have to be complicated or overwhelming! By following the tips outlined above, you'll be able to make sense of all the data available at your fingertips quickly and efficiently so that you can start planning for success in the coming year with confidence. Reach out to us if you need help evaluating your 2022 marketing strategies and crafting plans for 2023. www.craftmarketingndbranding.com