How to know if your Marketing Strategy is working?
Marketing is an integral part of any business. A Marketing Strategy refers to all the marketing efforts a company undertakes to attract new customers for their products or services. They employ these strategies throughout a course of time and each marketing campaign has several objectives that drive the need for its implementation.
For example, to enter a new market segment, to retain the existing customer base for the company etc. These campaigns also require a good capital investment. So, how do we know if any campaign is successful?
There are many key indicators that can help the marketing team to derive a conclusion in terms of whether a marketing strategy proved to be successful for the business or not. 5 such indicators that can be referred to understand the result of a marketing strategy are listed below:
- Return on Investment (ROI)
Every marketing strategy that needs to be implemented sets a list of financial objectives which can be compared by determining the ROI for the particular initiative. Return on Investment or ROI is generally referred to the return or revenue a company expects from the investment it has put in the campaign.
Thus, the ROI can be measured in financial terms for the company after the said marketing strategy has been adopted. Furthermore, ROI is easy to calculate as the numbers from each sale and purchase are maintained by the sales department in the company. The ROI is always aimed to be as higher as possible because it would imply that the business had earned profit from the initiative.
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Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is another important indicator to determine the success of a marketing campaign. Conversion happens when a customer that visits the business finishes their desired action, i.e., purchases a product or signs up for a service, etc. Additionally, this conversion could be from any medium: online or physical.
The conversion rate, therefore, is the percentage of customers that have successfully completed a transition from a lead to a customer. Marketing strategy creates an image in the customer’s mind. This data is essential for the company as the marketing efforts that are undertaken determine if the visitor’s perception about the business is positive or not. Hence, higher the conversion rate, more convincing a businesses’ marketing tactics are.
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Digital Engagement
Digital presence of a brand is very important in today’s scenario. It facilitates the customers to be more connected to the company and makes buying from them more convincing. Be it consistent activity on social media or an up-to-date website, a brand must have everything to increase engagements.
When a marketing strategy is initiated, the immediate results can be observed with the change in digital engagement. For instance, if a marketing campaign is compelling, there would be an increased website traffic (higher visits of customers to the brand’s website), an increase in social following, more mentions on these platforms etc. All of these signs could point towards potential customers.
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Improvement in SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimization, is a process to understand and analyze the performance of a business when found in a Search Engine like, Google, Mozilla, etc. SEO helps the business to observe where they rank in front of competitors or in terms of relevance when searched for a keyword.
A successful Marketing Strategy would escalate the rankings of the business in terms of applicable keywords that could lead to the researcher towards the business. The previous or original data proves beneficial in comparing the growth after the implementation of a campaign. So, regular checks on SEO can help the company keep a track on their performance and the implemented marketing strategies.
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Customer Retention
A good marketing initiative is profitable for the business in the long run too. When a business welcomes more customers, it should also be able to retain them and ensure repeat purchases from different mediums. So, if the marketing strategy is efficient, customers would be loyal to the brand and not think of switching to different options.
Thus, marketers need to calculate this metric too. Catering to new customers that are brought in is important but at the same time, it is necessary to keep a check on the original customers who have been a part of the businesses earlier should be looked after as well.
These five key factors are necessary to determine the success of a marketing strategy. However, there is much more to an accomplished marketing initiative. A business should set the objectives of the campaign by thoroughly researching for the target audience involved.
The strategy is considered to be working when it is profitable, drives in new customers, retain the older ones and adds to the brand value. Additionally, a marketing strategy should also be cost effective. Each business has its own way to determine whether their marketing efforts are successful or not. It is a personalized scale and cannot be generalized for everyone. But a few parameters are common and very important for each and every company to ensure an optimized marketing strategy.
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