Sharpen Your Marketing By Measuring What Matters Most

Something I always tell my clients is to measure what matters most because you will get what you measure, that’s for sure.   Make certain you are rewarding the right customers and employees for the right behavior.  Just because someone likes you on Facebook or follows you on Twitter does not mean they are or will ever be a good customer.  In fact for companies who have analyzed the value of a “like” or follower, there does not seem to be much of a correlation between those metrics and a strong bottom line.   It is easy to get distracted with a promotion or campaign to drive people to like and/or follow you that takes up a lot of time and energy but does not drive profitable growth so stay focused on what really counts!

Analyze the source of your business to see whether new customers are finding you via referrals, SEO, PR, Yelp, or some other gateways.  You may realize that you have 2 or 3 very happy customers who are responsible for most of your new clients last year.  If you are not asking the right questions to the right audience, you may not be getting the true answers.  If you are trying to validate your market for example, make sure you ask real customers, not just the folks at the management meeting, what they think (unless they happen to be the target audience).  Your mom or best friend are not objective feedback and will not want to hurt your feelings with negative comments.  Your output will only be as good as your input.

This leads to another marketing truism, it is critical that you understand your customer.  To be successful, you must know what they already have and use, what they think they need, how they are solving their problem now, what’s working, what’s not working, how they make their purchase decision, and who influences that decision.  At Procter & Gamble, everything starts with the consumer, they are probably the most data driven company in the world.  It is not about what I think or what you want, it all comes down to your consumer and their motivations and desires.  If you know what is in your target audiences’ heads and hearts, you really do not have to spend a ton of money to reach them.  Look at Starbucks, they do not spend a lot on traditional advertising. It is mostly ads on subways to reach their customers knowing a location will be close by.  They do not need to run Super Bowl ads to get their attention.

I hope I’ve convinced you that marketing is not a necessary evil.   One of my professors used to saymarketing is everything and everything is marketing.  That may sound crazy but I think there is a lot of truth to that statement.  The older I get the more I believe it to be true.    What if everyone in your organization thought of themselves as an ambassador for your brand?  Whether they realize it or not they are!  Give them the training and tools to tell a consistent story so your key benefits and messages are amplified in the market.  In marketing we measure television advertising by reach, frequency and gross rating points and if you extrapolate from that that the more feet you have on the street singing your praises and repeating those core messages at every turn you will be successful too.  The smaller your budget the more important it is to incorporate this advice into you company culture.  Every touch point and communication is an opportunity to reinforce your brand, so don’t waste it!  As the tagline for my firm states, it is “because marketing matter.”

So what are things you can do right now to increase your visibility and awareness?  Get to know your organization’s customers and your competition intimately.  Where are the gaps in the market?  Find ways to leverage your fans to become ambassadors for your brand online. Deliver on your promises and exceed expectations wherever possible so that positive word of mouth gets generated and sales follow   Don’t worry about being liked or followed.  When you get these things right, the new year will get off to a great start!

Forbes