In today’s economy, the success of a marketing campaign can make or break a business. Organisations are under constant pressure to find ways to trim costs, reduce spend and deliver value. And, with marketing budgets often among the first in line for review, it is imperative that marketers can provide clear metrics to be able to show which campaigns are working well & meeting their goals and which are not. The more efficient a campaign, the more chance marketing budgets will be increased rather than be cut.

These days, digital marketers have access to much more metrics than ever before and this data provides immediate insight into how well their marketing campaigns are performing. Not only can they see results but also trends too. Data can be tracked in real time with adjustments being made quickly and easily should the strategy be falling short of expectation. More importantly, if the strategy is working very well, marketers can move quickly to amplify that success.

The success of a marketing campaign is the holy grail and marketers put in place multiple strategies and tactics with a view to delivering the best results. But that’s not enough – it is just as important for them to know how to accurately measure the success of a marketing campaign. Because, if they don’t know this, then how can you trust them to know how & when to make informed adjustments & improvements to the campaign along the way?

Of course, it stands to reason that you would not want to wait until the end of a campaign to then discover major errors in the set up or that you have been using the wrong messaging or targeting the wrong demographics. That’s a total waste of money, time and resources let alone the damage to your brand and reputation. As such, having the correct measurement processes in place will help you check on a campaigns performance as it progresses.

it is useful at this point to provide a definition of success measurement. It is the structured process for determining how well your marketing efforts have reached your campaign goals.

Here are six clear steps to help you measure success…

1. Establish your campaign goals
If you do not have any set goals then you have nothing to aim towards and therefore cannot measure the campaign’s performance. So, its important to understand what you want / need the campaign to deliver. This could be increased revenues, more clients, bigger orders, more inbound enquiries, more website visitors, a full order book, better brand awareness, etc.
For better results, consider using the SMART technique to setting goals (see below)

2. Set benchmarks
Sometimes, the goals are not a set number but rather an undefined ‘improved’ result. This can be seen when considering the words ‘increased’, ‘more’, or ‘better’, or ‘bigger’. What does ‘more orders’ actually mean? Is it simply any new order? Or is it a comparison against a previous campaign, in which case, note down the results from that earlier campaign. That figure becomes the benchmark you are looking to surpass.

3. Define your KPIs
KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators are metrics that have a clear value which can be used to measure the campaign’s performance against its goal. For example, if the goal is ‘100 orders’ then the KPI would simply be the number of new orders taken specifically by the campaign.
But, there are many other ways to measure the campaign’s performance. For example; Conversion rate, Website traffic, Website session duration, Cost per lead, Footfall numbers, Total value of tickets sold. The list goes on.

4. Use the right measurement tool
Depending upon your goals and KPIs, there may already be automated tools available to use to (help you) measure the KPIs (and therefore the performance). For example, Google Analytics, Campaign Monitor reporting, Lead Forensics. All of these are here to help you gain accurate data. That said, some KPIs may require a more personal touch – call logging or marketing research for example. The more you know what tools are available for your goals and KPIs, the better.

5. Set a time frame
Now that you know your goals and how you are able to measure them, your next step is to define a time frame for the measurement of each goal. Naturally, you will have one overarching time frame – the duration of your whole campaign – but you will also want to set out a measuring timeline that suits your needs. For example, will you want to be measuring performance every hour, every day, once a week or once a month. With this in place you will be able to plot the progress of the campaign and have time to make adjustments if required.

6. Show the results
Whether you use a digital dashboard which shows the data in real-time or presenting once a week with the data manually plotted on an excel sheet, it is important to be able to see, understand and share the information.
Presented correctly, the data will be able to show the current performance & trend of each KPI against its respective goal. This will enable you to see if the campaign is on track to reach the intended goal(s). And, if it isn’t, to put in place the relevant adjustments.

Marketing campaigns are set up to help businesses generate interest from old and new customers, get orders and take in more profit. We recognise there is no single magic bullet to always ensure the success of every marketing campaign. But, when it comes to being able to accurately label it as a success or not is down to knowing these three things:
i) what success looks like
ii) how to measure against it
iii) what to do to keep the campaign on track

WHAT IS THE SMART TECHNIQUE?
Specific: be specific with your goals. They should have a clear and detailed description of what you want your campaign to achieve.
Measurable: goals need to be able to be measured.
Achievable: goals can be challenging but they need to be realistic enough to attain.
Relevant: the goals you set must be relevant to the company’s overarching objectives.
Time-bound: Set appropriate milestones and dates for measuring.