Why KPIs are catnip for the delivery of your marketing strategy…….plus, the top seven marketing KPIs you should be measuring.

Catnip: When cats smell catnip they run towards it, rub their heads and body on the herb; jump, roll around, and vocalise.

And we could all do with that energy around our marketing strategy.

What gets measured gets done, and that’s never been more true than when it comes to your marketing outputs. It’s like navigating by the stars; identifying the pole star, and using it to determine your direction.

Many organisations I’ve worked with have an obsessional approach to marketing inputs (especially when it comes to social media) and yet do not have a clear goal in mind. They also fail to track the outcomes of their activity. So it’s a bit like being at the golf driving range without trying to land the ball in the hole, and just spraying the ground with golf balls.

(Every time I play it is a bit like that but for the purposes of this exercise assume we are all pros!).

Step1. Shift your thinking; Digital marketing is much more than an awareness-building tool.

Digital marketing can do so much more than raising awareness and visibility of your organisation. It is a powerful customer acquisition tool that can work for every business, in every sector, with very few exceptions.

In today’s world, your audience is likely to be online somewhere waiting to hear about your products and services. So whilst profile building, particularly via social channels is important, your marketing will become even more powerful when you deploy strategies that convert into customers/orders.

It’s often helpful to consider the end game first.

Step 2 Determine what you want your marketing strategy to deliver;

At a high level, your catnip is likely to be a turnover, or product sales, target, ideally with an element attributed to growing retained customers, and an element for new business acquisition.

Next, consider what budget you have available to fund your marketing activity. If you are a start-up that may be zero, which is fine; digital marketing is the home of the resourceful, or more commonly around 5% for a revenue-generating business.

This will give you the basis to shape a budget for new business acquisition and one for growing retained clients (accepting that some marketing will cross-pollinate). It’s then an easy next step to set a customer acquisition cost target – how much marketing spend you need to generate a new customer. Remember to include the cost of any people who are involved in marketing delivery.

Step 3 Lay out your plan

Map out the activities which are going to deliver the results you need. Yes, there will be an element of guesswork involved if you’ve not tried some of these before. However, it’s better to have a stab at what you want to achieve and iterate as you move forward rather than have no objectives in mind. This is often the fastest and most effective way to learn.

To get you started here are some suggestions for your first set of KPIs:

Marketing KPIs

1. Marketing revenue attribution – how much you are spending, by activity.
2. Customer acquisition cost (CAC)- marketing cost per new customer
3. Digital marketing ROI – new business generated vs the cost
4. Traffic-to-lead ratio (new contact rate). How much traffic do you need to generate one lead?
5. Lead-to-customer ratio. Conversions of leads to customers
6. Landing page conversion rates. How many leads does your landing page generate?
7. Social media traffic (and conversion rates)

Step 4. Set up a regular review meeting

Plan in a meeting (at least monthly) to walk through your KPIs and consider what’s working and what isn’t.

Like growing Catnip, driving new business via digital marketing KPIs is pretty straightforward. Once you’ve started you’ll be addicted and never look back.

 

Our team at BHP Consulting all run successful businesses, we understand that businesses are unique and our approach involves sharing this experience to improve your business. For an initial telephone conversation or face-to-face meeting, click here