Make More Money with Marketing Metrics

Do you know how effective each of your individual marketing tactics is? Many small business owners market in a vacuum. They spend money on brochures, advertisements and web sites with no real way to tie specific results to specific endeavors.

If you are unable to associate leads and sales with the specific marketing efforts that generate them you have no way of knowing what is working as an effective marketing mechanism and what is not.

The money you invest in marketing your company is precious. In order for you to maximize your marketing dollars you need to know the results individual marketing efforts generate. When you know the results of your marketing tactics you can make intelligent decisions about how to better allocate your marketing budget.

For instance, if you concurrently run a direct mail campaign, a search engine advertising campaign and weekly ads in industry periodicals without some method to discern results you will not know which effort generates the lions share of any new business.

If you don't know that your direct mail campaign yielded 90% of your revenue with a 2% response rate, you are powerless to make the wise decision to reinvest in the direct mail campaign and make changes to or drop entirely the other campaigns. What's more, if you can figure out how to double the response rate of your mail campaign, you can nearly double the revenue your marketing campaign without spending money on search engine marketing and periodical advertisements.

Measuring your marketing results will help you save money by allowing you to eliminate unproductive marketing tactics and at the same time, will help you make more money by allowing you to reinvest in productive marketing tactics.

Do you have a method for measuring the effect of your marketing?

Here are four tips for gathering the information you need to make wise marketing investment decisions.

Use a Database
Start by designing a database to keep track of individual marketing efforts and the leads and sales they generate. Make sure you include fields to track the dates of your campaigns, campaign descriptions, the number of leads generated and sales made. Once you have a central storage location for this information you will be able to make queries to glean the information you need to make wise marketing decisions.

Ask Questions
When you or your staff speaks with a prospect on the phone make sure you ask how they heard of your business; was it a referral or an ad in the local newspaper? It's such simple way to gather valuable information many small business owners overlook it.

Be sure to ask your prospects how they heard of your business.

Make It Easy for Your Prospect to Help You
Make it easy for your prospects to properly identify the marketing piece to which they respond. If you have multiple phone lines into your office you can easily accomplish this by assigning a unique phone number to individual marketing efforts. This way, you or a staff member can ask what number your prospect dialed or, if you have the right phone system you can look at the phone to see which line the call is on.

Data Entry Should Be Easy Too
Once you or a staff member have garnered the information you seek from your prospect, make it as easy as possible to have this information to be entered into your database system. If you employ a staff, make certain everyone is up to speed on your latest systems. Training is a must.

Move Your Marketing Forward
The idea is to gather as much information as you can about which marketing mechanisms generate the best (and worst) response, who is responding and why they chose to respond.

Once you have this information you will be better able to think like a future client, cater your marketing material to their needs and generate more leads and sales.

What are some other steps you can take to measure the effect of your marketing efforts?

Marketing Coach, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers attract more clients, grow their business and be more successful with his marketing and web site enhancement service and his marketing guides.
Get his free marketing guide: Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success

---

Google News Updated : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:05:30 GMT Boeing Workers Are on the Brink - BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal Boeing Workers Are on the Brink BusinessWeek - 1 hour ago Despite being offered a relatively generous package by management, Boeing machinists are ready to go on strike. Here's why by Joseph Weber When a stunning 87% of Boeing machinists voted on Sept. Motown Blues for Boeing? Wall Street Journal Boeing, machinists union meet with mediator The Associated Press Seattle Times - Bloomberg - Reuters - Chicago Tribune all 1,406 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:54:59 GMT McCain takes stage, turns down heat - Boston Globe The Gazette (Montreal) McCain takes stage, turns down heat Boston Globe - 1 hour ago By Joanna Weiss For a man at the top of a presidential ticket, John McCain had an unusual task last night: to remind the nation that he was the star of his own show. Palin Assails Critics and Electrifies Party New York Times GOP welcomes McCain with enthusiasm Milwaukee Journal Sentinel CBS News - Kansas City Star - ABC News - TIME all 1,387 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:20:31 GMT Schwarzenegger: Palin delivered 'fantastic' speech - San Jose Mercury News KGET 17 Schwarzenegger: Palin delivered 'fantastic' speech San Jose Mercury News - 1 hour ago AP SACRAMENTO—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday said Sarah Palin hit a home run with her acceptance speech for the Republican vice presidential nomination. Video: Governor To Californians: Bug Lawmakers About Budget kcratv California nears record in spending plan stalemate Sacramento Bee San Gabriel Valley Tribune - Los Angeles Times - New York Times - City Watch all 302 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:14:17 GMT Data on defective genes make tailored remedies possible - Baltimore Sun Voice of America Data on defective genes make tailored remedies possible Baltimore Sun - 41 minutes ago By Frank D. Roylance Researchers cataloging the genetic codes of deadly human brain and pancreatic cancers say they have found several dozen defective genes that appear to work in concert to set off the tumor growth that eventually kills their victims. In Long-Awaited Maps of Cancer, The Breakthrough Is the Problem Wall Street Journal What You Need to Know About Mapping the Cancer Genome U.S. News & World Report Reuters - The Associated Press - Bloomberg - Science Daily (press release) all 209 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:24:12 GMT Rice set for historic Libya visit - BBC News RTE.ie Rice set for historic Libya visit BBC News - 3 hours ago US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to begin a historic visit to Libya as part of a North African tour. She is expected to meet Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as part of the trip, which will also include visits to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Rice set to begin historic Libya visit AFP Rice set to make history in Libya The Associated Press Aljazeera.net - International Herald Tribune - WZTV - Bloomberg all 425 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:41:55 GMT '1967 lines not up for discussion' - Jerusalem Post Sydney Morning Herald '1967 lines not up for discussion' Jerusalem Post - 32 minutes ago By JPOST.COM STAFF The July 4, 1967 lines are not up for discussion and are the very foundations from which direct talks between Israel and Syria will start, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Friday. Video: Sarkozy in Syria : the press is divided france24english Syrian sets terms of role on peace Philadelphia Inquirer New York Times - Boston Globe - International Herald Tribune - Voice of America all 1,039 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:32:39 GMT Wal-Mart acting on shifts in consumer spending - BusinessWeek Los Angeles Times Wal-Mart acting on shifts in consumer spending BusinessWeek - 3 hours ago By CHUCK BARTELS If the mood on Wall Street is grim, then consumers must be feeling even more bleak, right? Fuel prices remain high, inflation has hit food prices hard and consumer confidence is down. August another disappointing month for retailers Los Angeles Times Lower-cost stores gain from US shoppers' thriftiness Financial Times Forbes - The Associated Press - Wall Street Journal all 673 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:48:39 GMT Make Money Online RSS Parser

PARLOT::Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Adsense websites

7 Marketing Lessons I Learned From the Muscleheads at Golds Gym

Can I share a secret with you?I love working out.... Read More

Market Yourself as the Expert

As a small business how do you compete with the... Read More

Fail Your Way To Small Business Marketing Success!

Are you willing to fail your way to great marketing... Read More

Money Making Real Estate Marketing Ideas

Real estate marketing is a lot simpler than most Realtors... Read More

Develop Your Curiosity And Increase Profits

If anyone was to ask me what my greatest strength... Read More

Ten Effective Ways to Capture Market

1.Evaluation of Existing Products / Therapies2.Assessment of New Products3.Market assessment... Read More

Marketing Messages: Your 10 Most Important Business Principles

As a self-employed professional, you have two basic strategies for... Read More

Are You Losing Business?

As a small business owner, you are grateful for all... Read More

Three Alternative Methods On Getting Quality Testimonials with Bonus

Here are three alternatives to increase your testimonial numbers or... Read More

Tracking Your Way to the Top!

I often wonder how people without a plan know where... Read More

The Easiest Small Business Direct Marketing Tip You?ll Ever Get

This really and truly is the easiest (and most profitable)... Read More

Six Ways To Attract New Customers To Your Restaurant

Without new business, your restaurant won't be able to grow.... Read More

Business to Business Direct Mail Offers that Say Free

In direct mail, the offer is the incentive or reward... Read More

Uncover Your Hidden Markets

Want a simple, low-cost way to boost your sales? Just... Read More

Up Your Income Next Week: 13 Ways to Have a Sale

Nothing gets people buying products or programs like a special... Read More

Marketing - The One Marketeer

I'm regularly asked to speak to people, that have either... Read More

Ten Ways to Market Your Business by Doing What You Love To Do

Most business owners get so involved in the work of... Read More

7 Simple Marketing Tips

Here are 7 simple marketing tips to help you boost... Read More

CRM Star Wars: When Marketing is from Venus and IT is from Mars

Inherent tensions exist between marketing and IT. This is often... Read More

Turbocharge New Sales with a Marketing Database

What is the most valuable asset your company owns? Inventory?... Read More

Business to Business Direct Mail Sales Letters Need an Offer (and Heres Why)

In direct mail, the offer is the incentive or reward... Read More

Flesh Eating Spiders And Other Marketing Horrors

After a friend was bitten by a spider, I decided... Read More

Five Tips for Trade Show Success on a Small Budget

No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can... Read More

Whats Your Selling Sentence?

What's your Selling Sentence? If you have a business, you... Read More

Client Attraction Technique #1: Niche Marketing

When asked "what business are you in" many business owners... Read More