Reality Vs. Perception: Why You Must Use Data to Steer Your Marketingย
Before the term โdigital marketingโ even existed, things were pretty simple. In traditional methods of marketing, it was quite easy to track how your marketing performed due to there being one point of contact (a postcard, a radio ad, a TV commercial spot). In digital marketing, things are a bit muddy. With so many different digital marketing channels, it can be hard to understand whatโs working and what isnโt.
The average customerโs purchase path is often disjointed. Between strategies like SEO, paid search advertising, social media, email marketing, and more, it can be hard to pinpoint the exact source of sales. Because of this, companies have started to throw their marketing budgets onto whatever new craze hits. And the novelty of a marketing method is what often influences the marketing budget these days, rather than whatโs actually performing the best.
According to Nielenโs Marketing Report, โnovelty plays a huge factor in marketersโ confidenceโ. New marketing channels are often favored over tried and proven marketing methods. And when a marketing budget is devoted to a channel that doesnโt have proof of a strong ROI, so much money can be wasted. This is a common problem that modern marketers face.ย
According to the Nielsen Marketing Report, the most effective paid media channels are:
- Search
- Video
- Social Mediaย
Though these three are the most effective, the data shows that marketers will often devote more of their budget to new marketing channels without proof that those channels are producing a good ROI. Nielsenโs study showed that marketers will give newer channels the benefit of the doubt, and will pour money into these channels even if theyโre unable to prove the efficacy. This is a truly poor idea because one of the primary tenets in marketing is that you put your time and money into whatโs working. Assumptions are not good enough.
Why You Canโt Promote Your Business Based on Assumptionsย
Assuming that a marketing channel will produce revenue without hard data to back up this assumption is a foolish way to waste your marketing budget. At the end of the day, the proof has been, and always will be, in the numbers. If the numbers arenโt telling you the story, you should never jump to conclusions.
Imagine investing large sums of money into podcast advertising (as an example), but you arenโt able to track the metrics of the campaign. Now, you may strongly believe that podcasts are the future and that more and more of your ideal customers may listen to the podcasts that youโre advertising on, but if you cannot prove that youโre producing revenue, whatโs the point?
How to Track Your Marketing Campaignย
The solution is to track the metrics of each marketing action you take. For some channels, this is easyโ like SEO, paid search advertising, social media advertising, and email. For others, like podcast advertising and streaming audio advertising, itโs much harder, as there no built-in apparatus to really track the metrics. When there isnโt robust analytics to view, youโll need to do everything you can to put them in place.
The easiest way to set up a specialized system that captures any leads or prospects that are generated from that marketing channel. For example, if youโre advertising on a podcast, you can create a unique coupon that is exclusive to the listeners of that podcast. You can also create a landing page that is only given to podcast listeners.
By tracking your marketing, you donโt need to fall victim to poor judgment. You can make a balanced, fully fleshed-out decision thatโs based on the hard data. Thatโs the only way you should move forward with a marketing strategy.
Donโt let assumptions steer your marketing strategy. Leverage data to make decisions that will positively impact your ROI.