Entrepreneurs wear many hats and often have to work in the business rather than on the business. Focusing on marketing data can seem like the least important task among the many demands of growing a business. However, focusing on the right marketing data is critical to increasing your revenue, attracting more of your ideal customers, and spending your money where it counts the most.
How to focus on the correct data
So, how do you focus on the correct marketing data? Below are a few tips for zeroing in on the correct data:
1. Understand your most profitable product or service.
Don’t forget to count time as part of that cost. The things you do the least often are the most expensive for your company to produce because of poor system efficiency or a lack of baked-in experience.
2. Know the average purchase, investment, or contract.
Understand where your sweet spot is and work toward making tweaks to increase purchases while maintaining, lowering, or making your costs more efficient.
3. Understand what you can realistically spend on marketing, based on current profits.
There are so many ways to develop creative marketing methods, but if you don’t understand what is truly within your budget, you may end up spending too much on something that doesn’t yield the return you are looking for, or you can spend time developing something that you cannot implement in full because of budgetary constraints.
Put the data to work
Many entrepreneurs use a freelancer or an agency to place digital advertising. Depending on the professional and the type of program they’ve designed for your marketing needs, costs can quickly rise. So, how do you know whether those costs are worth it? Here are some key metrics you should be asking for:
- Cost per lead – On your website, you should make it easy for your customers to convert. Whether that is an inquiry form, scheduling an appointment, or calling, you should have a quick and easy way for them to take action. This will be an incredibly important point in the customer journey for you to monitor.
- Click-through rate – How many potential clients are actually clicking on the ads? A low click-through rate suggests that your content is not engaging with your ideal audience, your audience may not be on the platform where the ad is placed, or you are targeting the wrong audience.
- Impression- or click-based ads – If you are trying to increase awareness or are in a micro-market, impression-based ads might be a good fit. But if you are trying to get conversions and connect with potential customers, focus on click-based ads, where you are paying per click, not per view.
- Targeted audience behaviors or demographics – To best focus your efforts and budget to acquire new customers, you should have a good understanding of who your ideal audience is, what they are interested in, and the sites they frequent – and then target them. Without precise ad targeting, you can spend a lot of money attracting the wrong customers, or none at all.
- Social media engagement rate – Don’t feel pressured to be on every social site. Pick the ones that your ideal customer frequents and focus on those. Then, track your social media engagement rate (actions such as liking, sharing, comment) to see if you are actually appealing to your target audience.
Remember that the choices and behaviors of your target audience are the best way to help you narrow your focus down to what’s most important for you to support with your marketing as well as your product or service offerings.
Let the marketing data drive you more efficiently and effectively toward growth and success—you’re likely to get there faster and achieve your highest potential for profit.
MaryAbigail Dills is a marketing expert, agency owner, and marketing director for a financial services institution and is a creative lifestyle entrepreneur. Learn more at maryabigaildills.com.
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