Simply put, you can’t afford to not market your business. Professional SEO firms will tell you that public promotion, whether obvious or subversive, is necessary if you want to increase your brand awareness and sales.
But that may feel impossible if your marketing budget has been stretched to the limit. You may not even be sure that what you’re doing is even working — and you might be worried you don’t have enough resources to measure the results of your current strategy. Fortunately, it is possible to assess your marketing success without spending a lot. Once you have a handle on your metrics, you can explore ways to get the most out of your marketing budget. Here are a few steps you’ll want to take.
Determine Your ROI
Return on investment, or ROI, is an important metric for virtually any financial decision you make. When you make improvements to your home, ROI can tell you whether those projects will pay off if you decide to sell the property. And when you make improvements to your business marketing, your ROI can let you know whether you should keep investing in those areas.
This key performance indicator (KPI) is relatively easy to measure. You’ll need to calculate how much was spent on a given marketing campaign and compare that number to how much revenue that campaign generated in sales. The difference between the two can then be converted into a percentage. While you may not always have the data on how a campaign might have indirectly resulted in sales, you can use the direct numbers to determine the quality of leads obtained from the campaign. From there, you can ascertain whether this marketing campaign ended up making you money or whether the loss might have contributed to your budgetary issues.
Figure Out Your Cost Per Lead
Cost per lead is another KPI that can be used to measure the effectiveness of a campaign. Unlike ROI, CPL doesn’t give you much information about the quality of your leads — but it does tell you how much you’re spending to acquire each lead with your marketing efforts. Simply add up how much you spent on marketing during a specific period and divide by the number of leads you acquired during that same period to calculate your CPL.
Of course, you’ll need to know how much is too much to spend on a lead. This will depend quite a bit on your industry, as well as the methods you’re using to market your business. You’ll want to keep your CPL as low as possible within each marketing category and really hone in on the marketing tactics with higher CPLs. Something like a trade show, for example, will come with a higher cost per lead than email marketing. But just because your CPL is higher doesn’t necessarily mean you should remove that marketing technique from your strategy. When combined with other metrics (like customer lifetime value), you can determine whether your CPL is too high or whether it’s worth the investment.
Utilize Low-Cost Marketing Initiatives
Digital marketing typically presents more affordable alternatives to traditional advertising and marketing tactics. Not only can you save money by embracing online lead generation services like digital ads and local SEO, but these techniques are often far more effective than conventional promotional methods. Google receives over 63,000 searches every second — which means you’ll have many more opportunities to reach your target audience and do so in a way that can stretch your budget further.
By taking advantage of the effective-yet-inexpensive options offered by professional SEO firms, you can hit all of your metrics without overspending on your marketing budget. What’s more, a full-service marketing agency will be able to provide the guidance you need when searching for lower-cost marketing initiatives that actually work. While professional SEO firm services aren’t the only way to get your marketing budget back on track, they can provide you with a way to stretch your dollar even further.
To learn more about what our professional SEO firm can do for your business, even when you’re on a tight budget, please contact us today.