If you have a business that needs to generate leads and you do not know all your marketing metrics then you may be leaving money on the table. This article summarises how Oracle Digital has improved by measuring these metrics and highlighting them to our clients to drive continuous improvement both with our clients and within Oracle Digital itself.
Business owners, CFOs, CMOs
Why should they read it?
To learn how to improve their business by measurement and reporting.
At Oracle Digital we have always had a commitment to providing our clients with as many of the facts as we can.
Back in the bad old early SEO days the facts were simpler to understand – you have the number one position for “widgets Perth” and “red widgets Perth” now Mr Customer.
That number one position, if the keyword had a fair amount of search volume and with everything else being equal, would have driven sales by driving more traffic to the website.
To some extent the same still applies, however as we all know, Google have moved the goalposts (and keep doing so) and therefore different and more complex metrics are now in play.
What Really Matters To A Business In Terms of Measurement and Metrics
We work primarily in the lead generation business so what matters to a business is as follows (and in sequence);-
- The amount of traffic visiting the website (organic, paid, direct and other e.g. social media)
- The percentage of that traffic that is turned into leads (via forms, phonecalls, online chat, immediate purchase etc)
- The volume of sales that result from those leads
- The percentage marketing cost per sale
- The long term value of each client to the business
If you have a business that needs to generate leads and you do not know all of the above (even for your offline marketing) then you may be leaving money on the table – money your competitors will happily pocket…
Our objective as a business is to work with our clients measure and report on as much of the above as possible – for all of their marketing both online and offline.
It is fair to say that we have not got there yet, however, we certainly will get there and beyond because to do less is to short change ourselves and our clients.
How Do You Measure All of This?
Measurement of the first is well understood.
Google Analytics provides an excellent tool that can measure much of this and report on it.
The second one is also well understood.
Measurement and reporting can come from a number of sources including Google Analytics and via the use of unique phone numbers on websites.
For much more detailed measurement you can even use unique phone numbers for unique pages – one for your organic traffic and one for leads from specific landing pages for paid traffic for instance.
For your offline marketing you can use unique website landing pages and / or 1300 numbers on billboards, on print adds, on radio adds etc…
This should be the minimum standard if you are serious about your marketing.
The last 3 items require the help and cooperation of the business itself.
Smart businesses have realised this and are working towards measuring and creating metrics for each one.
Our Challenge
Our challenge as Oracle Digital is to work with our clients to deliver measurement and reporting that clearly shows strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (the old SWOT analysis).
To identify issues before they become serious and to help our clients to deal with those issues.
Sometimes this can be difficult.
A mysterious reduction in traffic leads to a drop in leads and a drop in sales.
This rings warning bells and sometimes panic in a client.
The challenge is to use the data to identify the cause(s) and to deal with them.
They may be environmental (an extended dry period or wet period), seasonal (end of financial year stops decision making), economic (stock market jitters), competitive (your competitor is having a big sale and is advertising it like crazy), time related (what you offer is losing its sheen against newer products) etc etc.
It may be caused by Google making algorithm changes or by a competitor outperforming you on Adwords.
It may be a combination of a few or many of the above.
The fact is that there is most always a reason and it is our job to highlight the problem then to work in tandem with our client to resolve it.
You cannot fix what you do not measure and report…
How Has This Helped Our Business?
So we get to the bottom line.
By now you likely know the answer.
We are wearing the emperor’s new clothes.
But nobody is pretending they do not know that we are naked.
Being naked is frightening.
It shows off all your imperfections.
If you are going to go around naked all the time then you better modify your eating habits for the good and get to the gym and start to buff up your flabby frame.
That may actually draw a few admiring glances.
Metaphorically speaking at Oracle Digital have been doing this for a number of years now and we will continue to keep doing it because it will make us the best company we can possibly be by driving better and better results for our clients.
