MARKETING MATTERS: DIRECT MAIL VS. INTERNET MARKETING PART 3--TRACKING RESULTS FOR INTERNET MARKETING

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TIPS AND TRICKS FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

 

By Rama Beerfas

 

July 1, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Last month, we looked at various internet marketing outlets. Knowing what available marketing tools exist on the internet is but the first step. If we avail ourselves of these tools, we still need to be sure that they are working for us in the way we want so that we do not invest time, energy, and (possibly) money into “solutions” that don’t work. (This really applies to any marketing tool we use – from the internet to the yellow pages to networking groups.)

 

As in any marketing effort, you must determine what your goals are for that particular action. Do you want to drive traffic to your website (pure hits), have people call or e-mail you, make sales on a particular item, have people sign up for your newsletter, encourage people to register for an event, or something else? Without at least one specific goal, there is no way to measure the effectiveness of your online (or offline) marketing campaign.
 

Keep in mind that, if your goal is related to anything other than pure hits in any way, then counting the total number of hits you receive is not attributable to the fulfillment of your goal. You must make sure to tabulate only those responses which actually fulfill all the steps required (e.g. joining your mailing list, completing a sale, setting an appointment, etc….) to meet your set objective(s).
 

If you are paying for online advertising (banner ads, pay-per-click), make sure that you have metrics in place to measure your ROI. For example, if you have a pay-per-click ad, your ROI is not the cost of one sale divided by the cost of the click that brought you that one sale. You must determine a time span (a day, week, or month is usually best) and add up the total of your click-through ad expenses for that time span. Then, add up all the sales revenue that was converted due to a click-through during that same time span. (If your sales cycle is significantly longer, you may have to adjust the time spans being tabulated.) Divide the total sales revenue by the total click-through expense and you have your ROI for that time period.
 

Think you’re done? Not yet.
 

In order to gauge the true effectiveness of your paid online ads, you must also compare their ROI against the ROI of all your other marketing outlets. This will enable you to see what your most effective marketing methods are in terms of a cost benefit analysis and you will be able to either eliminate one or more of your marketing expenses or tweak them to make them more profitable for you.
 

Tracking your results and making your time, energy and money work effectively for you is what any good marketing campaign is all about.
 

Rama Beerfas is Chief Solutions Specialist for San Diego-based Lev Promotions, offering marketing consulting, promotional products and more. Rama also offers seminars and training in marketing and customer service related topics. She can be reached at (619) 697-2045 or at rama@levpromotions.com or visit www.levpromotions.com. Column requests and comments are welcome.


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