Use sales to measure a marketing plan.
A marketing plan is a crucial part of business operation, but without evaluation and monitoring metrics, your plan can turn into an expensive waste of time and money. The most effective marketing plans are constantly evolving to meet customer demands, adapt to business needs and react to competitor strategies. By measuring elements that relate to marketing, you can eliminate unsuccessful efforts for a refined, powerful plan.
Profits
One of the easiest ways to measure the success of a marketing plan is to track profits. While a marketing effort might raise sales, it is pointless if the execution costs are so high that they negate the sales spike. Track your profits before the launch of a campaign, during the time the materials are circulating, and for six months afterward. In doing so, you will be able to see the delayed response time and get exact numbers. While not all profit rises are because of a marketing campaign, the overall numbers in relation to previous years and months can give you an idea of the plan's success.
Web Statistics
If part of your marketing plan involves efforts that are designed to drive customers to your website, use web analytics programs to follow the numbers. Install a tracking code from a program like Google Analytics on your website before the launch of a campaign and watch how the numbers change. Follow the number of visitors, note the websites they come from and track the amount of people that respond from specific cities. Track bounce rate, time spent on the site per visit, repeat visitors and the number of pages per visit.
Qualified Sales Leads
Many marketing plans are designed to increase sales leads. Work with your sales team to monitor the number of qualified leads that come in response to a marketing effort. Ask them also to track unqualified leads; you may find that your campaign is misleading customers and causing the wrong types to call with inquiries. With sales lead numbers, you can refine a campaign so that it reaches customers who are a good fit for your business.
Audience Response
A quick way to get direct feedback from your audience is to use surveys. To get quantifiable results, design the survey to get solid numbers by using yes or no questions. A survey is most effective when it has a clear purpose: to gauge awareness of a new product feature or measure name recognition, for example. You can also talk directly to customers and note their responses.
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