Marketing Metrics 101

If you still subscribe to the "50% of my marketing works but I'm not sure which 50%" axiom, it's time to move your business to the next level.

Marketing must be measured. Just like any investment of time, energy or money you need to know what level of return you can expect.

Sure marketing is both an art and a science, so you can't measure everything. But you have to start somewhere.

Here are some very simple metrics that you should track:

Response Rate: the number of responders divided by the number of recipients. This metric can be used for email, direct mail, calling and event campaigns. When measuring response rates, keep this number in the back of your pocket: 1% is the industry average for direct mail response rates.

Conversion Rate: the way to calculate conversion varies by industry but it is essentially the number of new, paying customers divided by total prospects. For example, let's say you email your database about a new product or service. Responders will just call you or email you back for more information. Conversions, on the other hand, are those that actually purchase.

Traffic: if you have a retail shop, measure how the amount of foot traffic for your center, your shop and even particular areas of your store. Test how traffic changes by varying your signage and in-store messages. If you don't have a retail presence, measure your web traffic and how that changes based on your marketing efforts.

Percentage of Repeat Purchases: how many of your customers are repeat business? This is a key metric to understand since it is more costly to sell to new customers than to sell to existing customers.

Sales: measuring sales goes without saying. You should always know your sales cycle and how that is impacted by controllable (marketing) and uncontrollable (weather) circumstances. Also be sure to measure sales against all marketing initiatives so you can track how an initiative impacts sales.

The above metrics are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to measuring marketing, especially if your business is online. Really you should be able to measure every advancement of the Sales Funnel, from Stranger to Advocate.

Most importantly, be sure you track your metrics consistently and over periods of time. This allows for direct comparisons.

Finally, make sure the data you track becomes actionable. As always, think with the end in mind. Ask yourself what you would do with the data when the measuring is complete.

To move your business to the next level, the marketing you measure should ultimately enable you to allocate your resources in a more informed manner.

Great Marketing is a Yawn

Yawn and the world yawns with you. Well, sort of.

Yawning is clearly contagious. Next time you are in a room with people, feign a sleepy yawn and watch how many people yawn in return.

Better yet, set a measurement to it: count the number of people that return your yawn and divide that by the total number of people in the room. Maybe you’ll come up with a metric like 7 out of 10 (70%) people yawn when they see someone else yawn.

This would be a measurement of the contagiousness of your yawn. If yawning is truly contagious, your number might even exceed 100% since you could create a never-ending chain of yawning.

Now, take this same concept and apply it to your marketing.

Measure the contagiousness of your marketing message: count the number of people that respond to your marketing message and divide that by the total number of message recipients. This is also known as a Response Rate but it is the first step in understanding how transmittable your message is.

If the message continues to spread—like a yawn—your responder to recipient proportion might exceed 100% and you could have a very contagious message on your hands.

Is your marketing message transmittable? Can you leverage one message and have it spread virally across multiple recipients? Does your word-of-mouth proliferate?

To move your business to the next level, make sure your marketing message is as contagious as a yawn.

Objective of Event Marketing NOT the Event

Event marketing—much like all marketing—requires careful planning. Executing a successful event depends mostly on preparation.

Key areas of focus include appropriate collateral, scripts for key messages and basic logistics for the day of the event.

However, the day of the event is only part of the equation. The follow up is where the real conversions happen. To move your business to the next level, ensure that you plan and prepare for what comes after the event.

Think with the end in mind.

The day you confirm an event and put it into your calendar also map out dates for your follow up plan. This way, when you show up to the event you will know what you need to do to execute your follow up.

You will know when to send emails, what to do with business cards, how to handle prospects and where to allocate your energy.

And don’t forget that a lot of great follow up happens just outside of the event: in hallways, elevators, restaurants and other gathering places.

Growing a brand means creating relationships and awareness both during and after the event. And in order to do that optimally, spend the necessary time before.

Plan for your event but plan more for what happens after.

"Everybody Gets Tired When Nobody Listens"

A direct quote from my daughter: "Everybody gets tired when nobody listens."

My daughter is four. She made this enlightened statement between giggling on the swings and hanging from the monkey bars.

While I am certainly biased in thinking my daughter is brilliant, there is no doubt that she speaks the truth. Listening is perhaps the most important skill in both business and in life.

The application of consistent listening serves tremendous marketing benefit. From customer service to employee interactions, a small business owner must be able to truly open her ears and probe for more information.

I previously recommended that a business owner must continually question their customer comments to dig for more information. In order to extract the most information, it is necessary to put aside egos, open up the ears and let the other party do the talking.

This life skill will move your business to the next level. You will find that customers will give you great information, employees will feel empowered and the competition will struggle to match your level of service.

It is tiring when nobody listens. Think how much energy is sapped with the simple act of seeking attention.

Do yourself, your employees and your customers a favor by energizing them with your listening.

140 Characters: Not Just For Tweets

At first glance, 140 characters is extremely limiting. What can you possible say in 140 characters that delivers meaning and generates response?

A whole heck of a lot, that's what.

In fact, I encourage my clients to think like tweeters even if they are not using Twitter. Limiting your marketing message to the core basics will get you to think like a savvy marketer.

In the marketing world, less is more. The less you need to state, the more powerful the messages.

Just as Nike, Google, Jiffy Lube or any other business you can think of that communicates their core message briefly and succinctly. Efficiency is very effective.

Remember, a marketing message does not need to communicate anything and everything about the business. It simply needs to move the audience through the next level of the Sales Funnel and advance prospective consumers through the Buyer Decision-Making process.

So when you are creating your next marketing piece, think like a tweeter and truly limit your message. Dig down into the core of what you want your audience to do.

Communicate the essence--and nothing more--and you can move your business to the next level.