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Blog posts tagged monitor
Five easy performance metrics for measuring marketing
June 07, 2010
For many entrepreneurs and small business owners, performance metrics can be a bit of detail that feels like it gets in the way. But without metrics there is no way of knowing whether performance can be improved, repeated or discarded.
For the first time, including the internet in your marketing mix, measurement is easy and doesn’t need lots of technical experience.
Here are five easy performance metrics for measuring marketing activity:
Use vanity URLs
These can be short URLs used for specific reasons. You can buy short domain names for campaigns or add a short code after your normal name. For example, www.HaveMoreClients.co.uk goes to the Facebook fan page of Have More Clients.
Alternatively, there are the subscription based shortener URL services where you can assign a URL and the service tracks the number of clicks and where they came from. There are several services – budurl.com, cli.gs and bit.ly, for example.
Web and email analytics
Google offers free web analytics where you can monitor every page, as well as campaigns. There are other companies offering paid-for analytics and you would be best to review the different offerings.
Also, by using a good email marketing system, you will know who clicks on links and where they go. This information gives your sales team, whether that’s you or your marketing VA/assistant, something very specific to contact that person about.
Brand monitoring
Sign up for Google Alerts and add in the keywords you wish to have information on. It's a good idea to include your company name and the names of key staff members so you can be contacted if something is going awry. Of course, then you need to take action – head in the sand is not the appropriate action.
Subscriptions to your blog feed, newsletter and downloads
If you have a blog, then linking the feed to Feedburner.com will mean people can subscribe to the blog and receive posts as they are published without ever going to the site.
Having subscriptions is just the start of the story; it's monitoring what happens to these people as a result of your activity that is important. This is linked to web analytics: for example, by tracking the behaviour of people and making appropriate adjustments, your headings improve, the content improves and the calls to action have more action straight to the bottom line!
Asking people
This may seem a bit old fashioned and off the wall against the hi-tech solutions, but the simplest methods can still be very effective. You can add a question to all the engagement points asking where they heard about you. This gives you feedback on which channel is working for you and which needs attention!
Adding a survey to encourage responses is helpful not only for the information gained, but it is an opportunity for your client and prospect list to engage – moving them from the passive to the active.
Once you have the measurements, set aside time to respond to this information and make changes to your marketing campaigns. Re-evaluate what is and isn’t working and improve. These techniques work whether you are tracking your social media, online activities or offline, too.
Track your marketing campaigns with Internet telephony
January 15, 2010
VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol offers businesses the lead when it comes to communications. It’s a cost-effective, flexible and professional option for businesses that want to benefit from the cutting edge of communication technology.
But can VoIP (or Internet telephony) really help your company improve its marketing? Well, the short answer is yes. Clearly, the most frequently given reason that people switch to VoIP from traditional calling plans is the amount of money that can be saved. VoIP uses the Internet to call, which massively reduces your calling costs, especially if you call long distance or overseas.
VoIP offers many more advanced features than regular landlines could ever provide. Nevertheless despite the technological advantage and the greatly reduced costs, it’s the marketing benefits that must not be so easily overlooked.
When VoIP is used for business, it helps to improve the relationship and communications with your clients. The VoIP system allows you to easily track and monitor calls and offers a professional front for anyone calling you. You can create specific numbers and attach them to particular promotions, products or services. Your staff can answer the phone with this already in mind and offer the caller a specific greeting that’s particularly targeted to the promotion, product or service that’s associated with that particular phone number.
By choosing to use a range of phone numbers for different types of marketing (newspaper ads, emails, website or poster) you’ll be able to tell which campaign is the most successful and tailor your future marketing strategy accordingly.
Using Gradwell’s unique VoIP control panel, you can produce monthly reports showing precise call statistics : how many calls were made to your numbers, which number was used most frequently, how long the call were and more. You can also relate the data to the productivity of your employees for motivational purposes. Reports can be exported and circulated for analysis in your marketing strategy meetings.
While each of your marketing methods may display a different number, all of the calls can be directly routed to come through to just one desk, one office or a whole call centre. Furthermore, when someone calls one of your VoIP numbers, a short piece of text can be displayed to your staff telling them which product, service or promotion the caller is interested in learning about, preparing them for the call. It really is that simple to improve your marketing efficiency and reporting with VoIP.
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