A secret to marketing RoI? Discovering the marketing successes (AND mistakes) experienced by other businesses can be a step towards smarter marketing and big results.
Our recent business survey uncovered the marketing decisions being made in companies like yours.
Here’s a free overview of the highlights...
Marketing RoI: The Good
Because marketing results also involve, or are impacted by, unmissable considerations like web usability, brand and printed collateral we asked our participants about much more than digital marketing.
We discovered an effective approach to marketing and sales, brand and collateral plus encouraging signs around customer personas and innovation.
Let’s dig deeper, starting with a big picture essential…
Q: Are sales and marketing closely aligned in your business?
Our audience said: Yes - 68.4%, No - 31.6%
Why it’s important: In general, if marketing isn’t connected to a sales process and buyer’s journey what better way could you have to measure RoI?
Yes, there are other types of marketing, but a keystone should be your campaigns to generate leads and formal process to feedback and update on progress between marketing and sales colleagues.
Q: Do you use ‘customer personas’ to draw up a picture of your target customers?
Our audience said: Yes - 52.6% No - 47.4%
Why it’s important: Let’s be blunt, if you don’t know who you’re talking to who exactly ARE you talking to?
Time spend on personas before any campaign will set down the foundations for a successful marketing investment.
Q: Is it longer than four years since you refreshed your brand?
Our audience said: Yes - 39.5% No – 60.5%
Why it’s important: Since brand, design and web were our first loves as an agency, this one makes our heart sing! According to Forbes, 64% of people say shared values create a trusting relationship with a brand.
That’s a lot of goodwill, but you’ll need to reflect your ever-changing customers and their business to unlock the benefits.
Q: Do you send any printed marketing material to your customers or have ‘leave behinds’ after sales visits?
Our audience said: Yes – 71.1% No – 28.9%
Why it’s important: An in-your-hand piece of design creates your brand and marketing information in a physical form. It can speak volumes about your business.
Which brings us to…
Q: Does every printed item and brochure celebrate your brand?
Our audience said: Yes – 68.6% No – 31.4%
Why it’s important: A weak link can break the good impressions, and trust, you’ve built for your brand. A rushed spec sheet or a makeshift price list can even raise an unconscious question about attention to detail in your potential customer's mind.
A brand refresh can include hunting down any weak players in your collateral line-up to help keep every element match fit.
And finally from our good behaviour list…
Q: Do you try to keep track of new marketing techniques, including new technology?
Our audience said: Yes – 52.6% No - 47.4%
Why it’s important: We know keeping on top of marketing trends can be tricky, one minute you’re reading familiar marketing theory and before long you’re tipped into automation, chatbots and inbound methodology.
A good partnership with an straight-talking agency will help (*waves). Especially when it comes to inbound, an approach to professional content publishing using tools designed to move a targeted audience towards a sale. We love inbound.
After all, how does 6 x more traffic and 4.5 x more leads sound*?
(*Source: HubSpot. We love HubSpot too).
Marketing RoI: The Bad
The good news about bad habits? There’s fertile ground to be found for a quick, and profitable fix, in the marketing steps you might have bypassed in the organised chaos of building a business.
After all, you’re in good company…
Q: Do you have a high-level strategy for your marketing?
Our audience said: Yes - 52.6% No - 47.4%
Why it’s important: Sure, what could be controversial about a 52% yes vote?!
In this case, it reveals a worrying trend BUT an opportunity too. Since marketing is designed to help your business grow, a marketing strategy is simply the ‘how’ feeding into the business strategy defining the ‘what’ you need for business success. Simple.
If you aren’t already doing this, press pause and bring in some expert help to relaunch your marketing. Some impressive results await.
Q: Do you set a profit goal before spending on marketing?
Our audience said: Yes – 42.1%, No – 57.9%
Why it’s important: This is easy one..remember all that time the tutor spend on ‘SMART’ objectives in business class? Well, connecting a campaign to the profit you need means you’re creating a link between your business goals and your marketing activity.
We love helping our clients make this happen in their company. Ask us how!
Q: Has your website’s mobile optimisation been checked recently?
Our audience said: Yes –57.1% No -42.9%
Why it’s important: If you had a bricks-and-mortar shop and half your customers immediately walked out the door the second they arrived you'd want to take action?
If a page on your site takes over three seconds to load this may already be happening in your online world (source: SearchEngineLand). A badly-optimised mobile experience is a frequent offender and easily fixed.
Marketing RoI: The (Really) Ugly
Look, we’re not angry. We’re disappointed.
Kidding.
Our final three, rogues gallery of marketing mistakes are all easily done and very fixable.
Q: Do you collect formalised feedback from your customers on an ongoing basis?
Our audience said: Yes - 39.5% No - 60.5%
Why it’s important: This one has quick win written all over it. That’s because growing companies prioritise customer success (an incredible 95%, according to HubSpot).
And how do they learn about their customer’s success? They gather, learn and apply change based on the information their buyers freely offer. Feedback really is a gift.
Q: Do you sell online and convert 10% of website visits to leads?
Our audience said: Yes - 15.8% No - 84.2%
Why it’s important: Let's pretend your website is a high street business again. Your website visits are simply the equivalent of people who choose to step inside to find out more. As a famous movie about sales once said, they didn’t come in to get out of the rain.
Some good news? The techniques to convert more of these browsers have been very well tried, tested and proven.
Q: If a customer doesn’t buy now do you have a process to keep them engaged until they are ready?
Our audience said: Yes - 34.2% No - 65.8%
Why it’s important: Because you just stumbled on an open goal.
If your competitors aren’t doing this their goalie has, in effect, gone home for the day.
Yes, it takes professional help, some inbound theory, the right tools AND amazing content but the method and means are both heavily researched and ready for use in your business.
How could smarter marketing drive more leads to your sales team? Ask for a free consultation to discover how high-performance inbound marketing is used to create marketing ROI.
About us: We're a multi-award winning brand, web, design and content marketing agency based in Northern Ireland. Trusted for almost 20 years, we have a client ‘churn’ of just 6% per year (and an even smaller staff turnover).
Creative Media offers ‘concept-to-cart’ consulting AND execution for a small number of clients serious about their brand identity, their online presence and their customer’s journey to converting online. We keep our inbound marketing capacity small to keep on focus on brands where we can achieve spectacular results.