Success, according to the dictionary, is a favourable outcome obtained as a result of physical or intellectual effort.
In our case, we will limit the success in digital marketing only to an intellectual effort. Theoretically, the greater the effort, the better the results. However, the effort may be in vain if there is no in-depth knowledge in this area.
Digital marketing can be measured 100%. You will know if you are doing it well or if you have to improve your strategy. But how do you know what to measure? When do you have to measure? How do you measure? What do you compare the results with? And who do you compare your results with?
It would be good to measure all online marketing actions.
Let's take an example. You want to sell more cars - but you don't know which is the best promotion channel. So, you decide to test them all. You have a marketing budget of 1,000 euros and you divide it into 4 platforms: Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. Each of these platforms provides you with a complex series of promotion tools, but for this example we will choose the most popular ones.
We divide the budget equally for each platform as follows:
Google Ads - Pay per Click (PPC) - 250 euros
Facebook Ads - carousel campaign - 250 euros
Instagram - Boost Post - 250 euros
LinkedIn - Lead Generation Campaign - 250 euros
Now each platform will give you access to measurements and results.
A marketing agency makes these measurements in real time or at least twice a day because it knows exactly what results to look for. Thus, the marketing budget will be optimized to bring you great results.
For example, we estimate a cost per lead (contact - potential customer) of 3 euros, but after we started the campaign we notice that this cost is 10 euros. We will make the necessary optimizations in real time, so that we reach the cost of 3 euros or less.
If you don’t know how much the cost should be for each result (lead, reach, engagement, link click), it would be a good idea to turn to a marketing agency because there is a risk of not getting the desired results.
However, if you have already sold all your products on a fixed budget, you can replicate the settings of your past campaigns.
Measurements are made according to your objectives. In this example, the goal is conversion (sales), but any campaign also delivers visibility. Once the conversion goal is set in your campaigns, the cost of visibility will be higher and the cost per conversion or lead will be lower.
Marketing agencies measure all parameters at the same time, but there are six metrics in particular:
The lower these costs, the higher is your profit margin from online marketing.
After this test you will notice that a certain platform works better for your business. Most likely it will be Google Ads, but again, there are a lot of objectives that can not be achieved through Pay per Click, such as:
Some marketing platforms and actions work better in the long run, while others are more suitable for short term. The best example is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) vs PPC (Pay per Click - Google Search).
With 1,000 euros invested in SEO you will not get immediately visible results. Instead, an investment of 1,000 euros per month will most likely place you on the first page of Google after 12-18 months (depending on your niche). Once you get to the first page, you will generate organic traffic (free).
Let’s suppose there are 100,000 searches per month for your product. With a good SEO strategy, you will reach at least 20% of those who are looking for your product.
The figures would be portrayed as follows:
SEO - 20,000 potential customers per month - free, after 12-18 months
vs.
PPC - 1 euro per click = a cost of 20,000 euros for 20,000 potential customers.
If we increased these figures to a scale of one year, we would reach the following result: 240,000 organic users starting with the second year for an investment of 12,000 euros.
Organic traffic is valuable, but it takes time, a certain budget and quality content.
The results can be compared between promotion channels and between platforms. In some situations, Google Ads can bring you more customers, and in other situations a newsletter can be more efficient.
In general, corporations compare their results between the 4 quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) of the current year with the previous year. They can do this because they have centralized reports and market research.
If you have not implemented any digital marketing campaign so far, unfortunately you will not be able to compare the results without the help of a marketing agency.
Do not compare the results out of speculation. You can only compare your results with the results of your competitors if you have access to a reliable source of information. However those results are dependent on the following performance criteria:
The complexity of marketing campaigns in the digital environment is evolving from day to day. Platforms change algorithms, rates and audiences.
At Remote Marketing and ADKPI Solutions, we have been doing these actions since 2014, every day, for both corporations and for start-ups with bold goals.
If you need help, you can contact us at any time.
Sincerely,
Andrei Drăguș - Remote Marketing
