Entrepreneurs leading companies have to wear multiple hats. They face competing demands and also manage the necessary operations. In such a situation it is imperative to have optimal strategies in place for each functional area that encourage the company’s growth and profitability. One of the main key areas is the marketing function, as it helps generating revenue from customers and keeps business afloat. Over the last few years we have seen the boundary between marketing and sales getting blurred. The future of marketing technologies will help marketers drive business growth for the organisation.
Modern marketing has created a lot of stir in the market recently. I would define it as an ability to utilize the full capabilities of a business in order to provide the best experience to your customer, thus driving growth.
We could see digital marketing focus more on the experience it can deliver to the recipients, especially with businesses moving online and reducing face-to-face contact with consumers. For many large organizations, it is not possible for marketers to work on personalization, at
scale, without the use of technology.
The use of marketing technologies will aid them in better understanding the audience, gather data, plan content and communication delivery, and gather response data. The improvement in accuracy and efficiency of such technologies
will help automate non-core functions of the marketing efforts, freeing up time for marketers to focus on planning creative strategies that best align with their organisational goals. The correct way to measure and calculate the success of these martech efforts is to strategically
define Key Performance Indicators for each marketing exercise.
Entrepreneurs, usually, fail to define actionable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that directly affect their businesses’ success and get swayed away by appealing, yet misleading numbers. Smart marketers place value upon metrics that help in deriving results rather than fickle numbers that only contribute to creating flashy reports.
Therefore, KPIs are used by digital marketers and entrepreneurs to measure their marketing campaigns. These numbers not only provide assistance in determining targets and goals but also measures performance. For example, while tracking SEO results through impressions received, a primary indicator to measure the success of an activity would be the revenue generated.
Alternatively, any data that does not directly correlate with the growth and profitability of the company is inane. Such numbers look good on paper but don’t contribute to a marketing campaign’s end goals. Rightly called ‘vanity metrics,’ these add a sheen to your reports but
are not reliable enough to tweak marketing strategies or make core business decisions. A spike in website traffic is a great number to show but its effectiveness can only be measured by calculating the number of visitors converting into paying customers or at least interacting
with the brand content.
The only metrics that entrepreneurs should invest in are the ones that help them grow their business. Listed below are a few benefits of evaluating marketing KPIs for your business:
– Online Marketing ROI – Accurately calculating a return on investment allows marketers to understand which of their efforts are generating the most number of leads. Using this data, marketers can tweak their strategies to supplement the methods that are most effective in bringing in customers
– Cost Per Lead – The performance indicator helps in understanding the cost associated with generating new leads. It is separately calculated for each marketing campaign and expresses their cost-effectiveness by designating a value to each lead generated. An ideal CPL would be a low dollar amount associated with a large number of leads.
– Customer Acquisition Cost – The customer acquisition cost helps marketers and sales teams in understanding what is the value of the process of acquiring a customer. This tests the quality of your leads, and lead generation campaigns, and is used by investors to calculate healthy investments.
– Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) – Based on the data points collected by various martech tools, like number of website visits or content engagement rates, a lead can be classified as an MQL. This would mean that it is more likely to become a customer over other leads due to their positive engagement with the company’s brand. This engagement includes adding items to a shopping cart, or downloading a mobile app, etc. This helps in creating a streamlined process between the marketing and sales teams as well. Once an MQL is defined, the sales team can then target them for a one-on-one interaction with the aim of building a relationship or closing the lead altogether.
– Conversion Rates – Conversion rates are calculated by measuring the percentage of visitors who follow a desired call to action. These actions can be anything from filling out a feedback form to purchasing a specific product. This KPI helps a company understand how good they are at attracting leads through their ad-campaigns or website traffic.
Delivering personalized and relevant content will be a key factor in attracting and retaining customers. To achieve this level of growth, tomorrow’s marketers need to identify and interpret the right KPIs for their business. However, the use of technologies and data can
help agencies better decide on their strategy and develop their content. Numbers never lie but our interpretations of them do, and can make or break our marketing goals.
(The author is Founder and CEO of WE! Interactive, a digital marketing agency based in Singapore and the views expressed in the article are his own)
