The worst thing in the world as a business owner (anyone really), is to stare at your bank account and ask, “What happened to all of my money?”
In essence we know where it went. To our expenses, of course. But when was the last time you looked at your marketing budget specifically and asked yourself – is it paying me back? Is my marketing bringing in more than what’s going out?
A couple of things to clarify here.
- There are multiple types of Marketing Channels. Where you are advertising will impact their return.
- Marketing is a LONG game that can take MONTHS to see a return from some channels.
These two items are exactly why it’s important to take a deep dive into your marketing spend at least once a quarter. Often times, it’s not that you aren’t spending enough, or too much. More than likely, it is that you are not investing in the channels that will give you the biggest return.
The Marketing Problem
The problem is that often we take a “throw the spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks” approach to marketing. This is a good place to start, especially for a new business owner. Half the battle when we first get going is just getting our name out there any way we know how!
It works, until it doesn’t.
Then you travel down the rabbit hole.
You have no idea where to invest or what isn’t working because what you don’t measure, you can’t improve.
It also becomes a real challenge because when you are trying everything, nothing has a specific purpose. Everything is just being used to “get business”. You need to grow and just assume, because that’s what everyone else is doing (or you think it is) or that’s what you hear, that you need to be getting more business from this specific channel.
I have a client who was looking to get more clicks on her links through her social media posts. She has been using social media and email as her primary client communication channels and needed to grow a specific type of audience.
At first, I gave her suggestions on how to change the copy of the post or adjust a few things on the graphic, and then I stopped in my tracks.
“Hey, where do you get the majority of clicks on your links? Is it social media?”
“No. It’s email.”
That’s when I knew – this wasn’t a “click the link” problem then. It was an issue with focus.
She was spending so much time on social media because that was what she had always used. It is an amazing awareness tool for her, yet she was trying to use it for a different purpose. It wasn’t performing the way she was expecting.
The problem wasn’t the channel, it was the expectations of performance from that channel.
The Solution
Take a Deep Dive Marketing Assessment.
Look at the analytics from every channel you have and identify the following items:
- How many leads does this channel give me? (if any)
- What is my engagement percentage from this channel? (IE: how many likes, comments, shares on social or how many shares, click throughs and sign ups from an email blast)
- Can I measure the traffic to my website from this channel and if yes, what is it?
- What is the primary purpose for this channel? (Awareness, Lead driver, or Traffic driver)
- What channels are performing the best and what ones are struggling?
Now that you have the answers to the above questions, you can move into phase two.
Diversify and Balance Your Marketing Channels
The goal is to have a balanced, multi-channel marketing strategy.
Then create specific accomplishment milestones for each channel. Knowing what to measure and how it affects your bottom line in a real way, is very helpful for your peace of mind and your revenue goals.
How do you balance your marketing?
Excellent question.
You need a channel or two for awareness, a minimum of one extremely strong traffic driver and one to rule them all…a high performing lead driver. (More than one lead driver is great to have!)
Awareness Channel
An awareness channel is exactly what it sounds like. It is a marketing channel that will ensure that your business stays top of mind. This can be online, in print or in person.
Did you know that someone needs to see something an average of five to ten times before they will act on it?
That’s the MINIMUM!
Most people need to see it three to four times that amount before they even click the link.
What is even more challenging is that whatever you are selling, they may not need right at that moment. But in six months, of consistently seeing your information, a situation pops up and they all of the sudden remember seeing your ad or post or email and realize they know who they need to call.
The best awareness channels are the ones that are designed to be your silent salesman when you are not there. This is the role of MOST social media channels.
Awareness is mainly measured through engagement and word of mouth. This is when you need to pay attention to the likes, comments and shares. It is also why it is imperative to have a survey for your new clients/customers to fill out. Take the needed step to ask how they found out about you. Remember, if you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it!
A Note On Social Media.
You need it.
I know, for many it can be the bane of their existence. But bottom line – if you don’t have some sort of social media presence, many people will write you off because you are not seen as a legitimate business.
Social Media is the ultimate awareness channel. It can also be an excellent place to establish you or your business as a thought leader and the expert in your field. Depending on your business focus, it can also be a solid traffic driver.
This is the challenge and key with Social, it can be used for every marketing purpose, so we think that it’s effective for them all!
It’s not.
As we will discuss for every channel, you need to understand why you are using it and what your end game is. Once you know that – then you can leverage your resources AND your social media.
Traffic Driver
A traffic driver is exactly what it sounds like – it drives traffic to your website home page or a specific page on your site. The more qualified traffic that goes to your site, the higher likelihood of a purchase or the desired action on your site.
Social media or email are excellent traffic drivers, along with ads. Ads can be on social media or on a search engine.
Here is my rule of thumb – if you are working to drive traffic to something that people are actively searching for – then you need an ad on Google.
If you are driving traffic to something that you need to put in front of a specific demographic, who needs to see it multiple times in order to move them to action – then your ads need to be on social media.
You can measure the effectiveness of your ads or social media posts as traffic drivers, by looking at your website and tracking how much your traffic has increased or decreased. You can also use a Facebook pixel, Google Analytics or other tracking code to know which page has received the greatest increase in traffic.
Lead Driver
The lead driver is the one type of marketing that often falls to the wayside. Traffic and awareness are usually the main focus. But a lead driver is where the magic happens.
What is a lead driver exactly?
A lead driver is when you create a piece of valuable content that you can give away to someone in exchange for their email address.
Not everyone is going to give you their email and some people may just give you a spam email. But ideally, your “freemium” as I call it, will provide people with enough value that they want it and will happily give you their email.
Once you have created your “Freemium” also known as a Lead Generator, you need to set up a landing page or pop up on your website to collect the emails.
One you have emails, you then will enter them into your CRM (Customer Relationship Management Tool) and then begin sending them emails about whatever it is that you do or sell.
How do you measure the effectiveness of your lead driver?
Identify how many leads you have received and then what percentage you converted to a client/customer.
Once you know your average conversion rate, you can then determine how many leads you need to reach your revenue goals.
Now, here is the real kicker – you need ALL of these marketing channels to effectively market your business.
You need the awareness to build your reputation and position you as an authority in your market. That awareness gives you the presence that you need to make the traffic driver effective and to drive traffic to your lead generator on your website.
There are ways to skip over some steps for certain purposes, but in all, you need every channel to drive your business.
One Last Thing About Marketing
The marketing budget is the first set of dollars to get cut EVERY TIME.
And usually it’s because they can’t see it’s impact. They don’t have the tools in place to see how much benefit that their efforts are providing.
It’s so very important to not only know how your marketing is performing now, but also, how every marketing channel is working together to improve your bottom line.
It’s not the marketing budget – it’s how it’s being spent. And that will make all the difference.
Wondering about your marketing efficiency? Send us an email, hit me up on Bluesky or comment on this blog.
We would love to hear from you!
Cheers my friends – one day at a time. 😉