Overview
One of the most common questions we receive from clients is how do we improve the return on investment (ROI) from our marketing efforts.
It is not surprising, considering the fact that businesses do not want to invest in marketing unless they feel reasonably sure they can get their money back.
Therefore, we found it interesting when eConsultancy and Oracle Marketing Cloud came out with a recent study examining how marketers best felt they were able to track the ROI across various digital channels.
We live in an age where we have more data than previously existed on the planet in all recorded history, it is interesting to note how many marketers still do not feel they have the resources to track ROI accurately for their business.
However, the ability to track results from marketing efforts lies at the core of any successful digital marketing campaign.
Evaluating Marketing Efforts ROI
The best part of the eConsultancy report was their ability to break down the confidence level of different marketing strategies. Now, this does not mean it is pure results, but how confident marketers felt about different online marketing channels based on previous experience.
One thing that stood out was the fact that no one strategy had a dominant position over the rest.
For example, marketers thought the easiest channel to track or monitor their results was PPC Search. However, only 50% of participants felt good about their ability to measure their ROI. The other 50% felt their ability to measure PPC search was either fair or poor.
Pay Per Click is one of the most trackable forms of digital marketing, yet 50% of marketers do not feel confident they can track prospects throughout the customer journey.
Following PPC, Email marketing (acquisition-48%) and email marketing (retention/engagement-47%) came in second and third place.
On the flip side, marketers thought video advertising (49%), content marketing (42%), and webinars/virtual events (39%) were the hardest to track ROI.
That is surprising how low video and YouTube marketing confidence ranked given the number of tools to help marketers in this field.
How Can You Improve Your ROI
Now that we have a good understanding of how marketers felt about certain channels, let’s review some core strategies to help your business improve your marketing ROI.
1. Budgeting Your Marketing Efforts
As companies require more and more analytics to prove the worthiness of their marketing efforts, it is important to understand the role the budget plays in the process.
Many companies plan out their budgets months in advance. Therefore, most have begun or already completed a budget for the following year.
However, it becomes a catch-22 for companies. As KISSMetrics states,
“If you cannot accurately measure your ROI, you can’t provide the proof management wants. And without proof, you don’t get an increased budget to work with.”
Therefore, companies increasingly rely upon and need advance knowledge from case studies and proven campaigns to know which channels can provide the best return in advance.
2. Study the trends
One huge drop this year from the eConsultancy report was the change between 2015 and 2016 in organic search traffic confidence. In studying trends like this we can begin to see where the best traffic sources derive.
It makes sense therefore that many organic search teams turn to paid search which has greater confidence. After all the algorithm changes and changes to Google Analytics over the past few years, marketers do not feel in control of the process.
While a lot of companies still see success with organic and local search, if your company does not see that success maybe it is time to evaluate other methods that can be more effective like email marketing and paid search.
Evaluating trends like this can help you increase your ROI year after year as the marketing industry changes.
If you are not sure what direction works best, feel free to reach out to our team at Shout at for a free consultation.
3. Focus on the Customer Experience
ROI is vital, but do not forget at the end of the day marketing is about ensuring you provide the best customer experience possible for your prospects.
As prospects move through your funnel, they should not feel like they are being squeezed through from prospect to client. Instead, provide a seamless experience for them across all of your channels.
That means your marketing efforts should focus as much on treating your current customers as gold as you do new prospects. That can increase their lifetime value, and produce the type of positive ROI companies crave.
Final Thoughts
As you probably noticed, determining the best ROI from your marketing efforts is not an exact science.
However, as long as you study your budget and trends in the industry, as well as provide a quality customer experience for your customers you can be assured that your business can always navigate the digital marketing waters.
If you are looking for marketing companies in Melbourne, Australia to identify opportunities that work best for your business, give us a Shout!
