When businesses spend money, they do so with the goal of seeing a return on investment. This is especially true of marketing, a field that operates with the ultimate aim of bringing in new customers and encouraging sales.
How can a business tell when efforts are paying off? This is accomplished by tracking key performance indicators, or KPIs, which are metrics, or measurable values, used to determine the relative effectiveness of efforts to achieve specific objectives. KPIs are used in all areas of business, from marketing and SEO, to retail and sales, to customer support, just for example.
How are KPIs used in marketing, and specifically, digital marketing? How should companies be utilizing KPIs to make the most of their marketing efforts? Here’s what you need to know.
Marketing KPIs
Modern marketing utilizes a variety of channels for promoting marketing campaigns, from traditional avenues like print, radio, and broadcast advertising, to digital platforms like online ads, SEO, email, and social media. In terms of digital marketing, there are dozens of KPIs the average business could be tracking.
Some businesses want to focus on brand awareness, recognition, and reputation. Others may be interested in tracking the experience of first-time visitors to a website or repeat visits. You might want to follow purchasing funnels to see how consumers find ads, click through, and make their way to the final point of sale.
Other metrics track things like click-through, conversions, customer acquisition rates, customer acquisition costs, average time on page, page views per session, bounce rates, lead generation, keyword performance, and more. If there’s any portion of your marketing efforts and subsequent results that you want to track, there’s a good chance you can find KPIs and suitable metrics solutions for your needs.
Getting the Most from KPIs
The trick with properly utilizing KPIs in today’s world of digital marketing is sifting through all available options to focus on the KPIs that are going to deliver the most valuable information and allow you to realize the greatest return on investment. Unfortunately, there’s no set formula to follow.
Every business has different goals and priorities. While it’s true that all businesses prefer to minimize spend and maximize results, there are endless ways to go about this pursuit, especially considering the complex maze of objectives each business is trying to accomplish. You simply need to focus on what’s most important to you and your business in order to narrow down the number and type of KPIs you’re tracking.
Outsourcing
The landscape of digital marketing is vast and complex. Even marketing experts can find the wide world of KPIs daunting, to say the least. This is where you can benefit from having a team of experienced professionals on hand to create a custom strategy designed to help you accomplish specific goals.
Outsourcing to an online marketing firm that is familiar with ecommerce, mobile traffic, and the ins and outs of digital marketing is one of the best ways to optimize efforts and properly utilize KPIs in the online marketing arena.
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