Congratulations: Your marketing campaign just ended, and you’re excited to show your CMO how well it worked. But do they truly meet the growth organization’s needs? Often, the answer is no.
Marketing success can be measured in several ways, but common pitfalls can lead to inaccurate or misleading results. Failing to align metrics with business goals: One of the biggest mistakes is evaluating metrics inconsistent with your business goals. It’s crucial to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that directly impact your bottom line and assess success accordingly. Don’t get caught up in measuring metrics that don’t align with your business objectives.
Remember, having a comprehensive and balanced approach to measuring marketing success is critical. It’s not just about numbers but also about understanding the qualitative impact of your marketing efforts on your target audience and overall business growth.
Here are some top false measurements of marketing success:
1. Vanity Metrics: Vanity metrics are measurements that satisfy you but don’t provide meaningful insights into your marketing efforts. Examples include social media followers, website traffic, or likes and shares. While these metrics may seem impressive, they don’t necessarily correlate with business outcomes or indicate true engagement.
2. Click-Through Rates (CTR): While CTR can be an effective metric for measuring online advertising effectiveness, it can also be misleading. High CTR doesn’t always translate into conversions or sales. It’s imperative to consider click quality and its impact on your business goals.
3. Impressions: Impressions refer to the number of times an ad or piece of content is displayed to users. While focusing on high impression numbers can be tempting, they don’t necessarily indicate your marketing effectiveness. Assessing the engagement and outcomes generated by those impressions is crucial.
4. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) without considering other factors: ROAS is a commonly used metric in digital advertising to measure revenue generated compared to advertising costs. However, relying solely on ROAS can be misleading if you don’t consider factors like customer lifetime value, repeat purchases, or brand impact. It’s essential to take a holistic view of marketing effectiveness.
5. Likes, Shares, and Comments: While engagement on social media can indicate interest, it doesn’t always translate into meaningful business outcomes. People may like or share content without taking further action, so looking beyond surface-level engagement metrics is critical.
6. Single-touch Attribution: Attributing a sale or conversion to just one marketing touchpoint is a common mistake. Customer journeys are often complex and involve multiple interactions across different channels. Focusing on a single touchpoint minimizes the cumulative effect of various marketing efforts.
Don’t be disheartened by these words, as the solution to eradicating vanity metrics lies in how you engineer your marketing process. By collaborating with your growth organization and determining the definition of success at the start of your campaign, your metrics will closely align with the desired mission outcomes. For more information on improving your campaign measurements, contact The Borenstein Group at contactus@borensteingroup.com or 703-385-8178 x1.
