How do B2B marketers tackle the question of marketing campaign value? Do we make strategic decisions based on real, actionable data? With the firehose of data that is available to marketers now-a-days, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find the information that truly matters. And this is especially true for B2B with their typically complex, drawn out sales cycles.
In our latest episode of #B2Bchat, we dug into questions surrounding metrics. Here is a summary of the questions and comments, compiled:
Q. Which components of your digital marketing campaigns are delivering the best results? E.g. Search, Email, Display Advertising, Social Media?
- Search (PPC and SEO). These are most effective when in used in conjunction with great landing pages.
- Mediums are secondary, success depends on the contextual relevance of the message.
Q. Why do campaign budgets get cut? Poor performance or lack of tracking?
- Both: poor performance due to lack of clear objectives. and lack of tracking because no analysis properly done during campaign
- Most of the time the problem is poorly defined goals and metrics
- Budget cuts can also come due to lack of well defined baselines.
- Lack of commitment to the campaign. Unreasonable expectations of sales impact.
- On social media budgets: Shyness with social media due to it being unproven, thus high risk. Execs are holding back.
- Measuring metrics a science, but knowing how to explain them can sometimes be an art. e.g. convincing your boss to keep budget.
Q. What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to marketing reports?
- First Dashboard reports need to be customized (management level) and meet biz needs…focus on actionable metrics!
- A lot of people over-do it with reports. Too much data and too complex = danger of focusing on wrong metrics.
Q. How do you assess the value of a digital marketing campaign? Where do you start?
- Have specific goals and objectives
- Start with the dollar value of new sales and work backwards
- Measure the number of sales-ready leads and wins
- A good marketing dashboard is fundamental
Q. What metrics (Key Performance Indicators) do you track? Which matter most?
- “Actionable” metrics, data which will allow us to make better decisions and take action
- PDF downloads, newsletter subscriptions, sales leads, e-commerce transactions
- Clicks, conversion, leads
- Customer retention
- Qualified leads, Reach, Buzz, Sentiment
- Engagement: comments/replies
- Predictive actions: signups, downloads, resource access
Word art of transcript from April 29 #B2Bchat – Measuring the Value of Digital Marketing (courtesy of Wordle.net).
This summary was originally posted at www.b2bbloggers.com.