Building a Small Business Marketing Budget – Part 5 of 5
Today marks the final installment in our five part series focused on building marketing budgets. If you have not read the first four articles, below are links to get you up to speed.
Week 1: How do I start building a marketing budget?
Week 2: What percent of sales should I set aside for marketing and advertising?
Week 3: What should I include in my marketing budget?
Week 4: How do I prioritize a limited marketing budget?
Now… let’s dig into our final topic:
Measuring Marketing ROI
The best way to measure ROI in one word: Tracking. In three words: Tracking. Tracking. Tracking!
The Ampersand team has more than 10 years of experience tracking and analyzing data. With this information our clients can make informed business decisions and position themselves for continued growth. Below are five tips to help get started:
Ask. It’s that simple. Ask every new prospect how they heard about you and document that in your CRM system or your spreadsheet. If you aren’t willing to ask this of your sales team, your receptionist, or your customer service department, don’t expect to know your ROI.
Track Conversions. If you are utilizing online or digital advertising, work with your marketing agency or website developer to customize your website and Google Analytics to help you monitor conversions on those platforms. Track leads to sales in your CRM and sales systems. Understand your cost per conversion and make sure that makes sense when it comes to the bottom line.
Report Regularly. Regularly review and crunch the numbers. Pull reports quarterly, if not more frequently, from your CRM or “how’d you hear about us” spreadsheet, as well as your website analytics, social media stats, and any advertising reports you are provided. Look for trends, set benchmarks, and adjust your strategies and spends accordingly.
Event Recaps. If you participate in trade shows, sponsored events, or other activities that are determined annually, make sure you sit down with your team following that show to do a post mortem. What worked, what didn’t? Did we generate leads or awareness? Measure what you can, and “feel” the rest. Take notes so you know if you should include it in next year’s budget.
Be Flexible. Sometimes you simply cannot show a hard return on investment. Brand awareness, especially in small business, is incredibly intangible. Sometimes you have to rely on the qualitative results of your marketing and advertising efforts.
This concludes our marketing budget series. Wherever you are in your planning, the Ampersand team is available to help customize the information contained in these articles to suit your business needs. If we can be of further assistance as you build your strategy, calendar or budget, let us know. Until then, happy number crunching!
