Anything worth doing is worth doing well. It’s great advice…but how does one measure “well”? A quick Google search on the subject will deliver exhaustive lists of “The Top 18 KPIs” or “The 50 KPIs Your Company Should Be Measuring,” spelling out different metrics that range from revenue attribution to social likes. It’s enough to leave anyone disoriented and unsure of where to start.
At Trellist, we know that metrics are crucial for understanding performance, success, and future planning. And while there are literally hundreds of ways to measure your campaign, and even more ways to interpret your findings, we base everything we do here on just three simple rules.
Rule #1: If you’re not measuring what you’re doing, that’s just dumb
Every move you make, every line of copy you write, every piece of creative you design, and every form of collateral you produce should have a quantifiable justification for its existence. Even if that justification is “This didn’t work, but now we know.” Tracking your campaigns is crucial for future success.
You need to understand what resonated with your audience, and what didn’t. Even those campaigns that “flopped” can provide valuable insights for others down the road. It’s called optimization for a reason, and striving to do better should always be what drives your decisions, even if better isn’t always the final result. If you learn enough from what didn’t work, eventually you’ll have a pretty accurate recipe for what does.
Rule #2: Don’t hold things to impossible standards
In the world of marketing, there is always some new platform or tool that puts messages in front of audiences. But just because it’s lauded by experts as the next big thing in marketing, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to be a game changer by launching your brand into the realm of Nike, or turning your company name into a verb like Google.
Marketing should be a well-thought-out combination of messaging platforms that tell the story of your product/service to the audience you want to reach. The idea that one social media campaign, or one tradeshow, or even one commercial is going to launch your brand from obscurity into a household name is unrealistic. Coca-Cola wasn’t built in a day.
Rule #3: Set yourself up for success by defining success BEFORE you start
This is probably the most important, and yet the most overlooked, rule when beginning a new campaign. If you ask the general public what the purpose of marketing is, most people will respond with something along the lines of “to drive sales.” Which, at a high level, is 100% true. However, there are a plethora of other ways to define marketing success and just as many means of getting there.
Having a clear picture of what would constitute a successful campaign before it begins ensures that the actions you take and the strategies you implement align with your goals. This also manages performance expectations and offers a more definitive meaning to the metrics measured.
Three simple rules. Hundreds of ways to follow them. Infinite success. For more marketing insights, or to find out how Trellist can help with your marketing goals—whether reaching them or defining them—contact our team at brandingmarketing@trellist.com.