There’s an old business adage that says … half of what we spend on advertising is wasted, we just don’t know which half. And while that formula has been referenced in professional circles from advertising to zoology, I think its origins are steeped in a wry attempt to explain a broader set of business frustrations.

Surely half of anything unknown could be wrong. However, I would submit that if you know where you’re headed, then knowing what to track becomes a whole lot easier to define—including what’s working and what’s not, what’s generating ROI and what’s (heaven forbid) wasted.

No doubt marketing has taken the worst half of the “50% is wasted” rap. And while past perceptions and reputations are hard to change, the good news is that today there are many terrific tools for measuring marketing results, especially for those who know where they’re headed.

 

CRM and Marketing Automation

These technologies make it easy to build and manage your customer/prospect database, as well as build, target and manage your marketing campaigns. When properly implemented, CRM and Marketing Automation tools map the entire lead-to-revenue cycle, including lead funnels, critical touch points, business processes and campaign conversion rates. A brief introduction to these technologies can be accessed online at the links below:

• CRM Software

• Marketing Automation Software

Online Advertising

These campaigns are highly measurable, in fact, in many cases with far more demographic precision than print and broadcast campaigns. Google, Bing, Yahoo and others offer metric-oriented tools for campaign creation and targeting (i.e., time, device, geo, etc.) as well as ad tracking that’s literally specific to every pay-per-click. What’s more, there are a bevy of website analytic tools that can track those clicks and everything that happens once a visitor reaches your website. Many of these results are available in real time!

 

Social Media

Talk about immediate feedback. Social media channels can push networking results to you with more frequency and precision than you may care to indulge in. Whether it’s followers, comments, reshares, favorites, funnels, etc., every user action is tracked and reportable for marketing purposes. There’s a great explanation of social media and online metrics and terms at the link below:

• Social Media & Online Metrics

The list of marketing categories and tools goes on, and we can visit more of them in future posts.

For now, the question is … do you know where you’re headed with your marketing campaigns?

If so, you may already know exactly how 100% of your marketing budget is performing. If not, you should consider the many tools that can help derive an accurate picture of your marketing investments 100% of the time. As always, you can contact me at 404.513.0804 or by email to learn more.