Effectively Identifying Key Measured Marketing Indicators Against Company Mission and Strategy

Written by Lisa Young, COO at Fineline

DemandBase and Wakefield Research reported in an article on ASI Central online, “Almost 90% of B-to-B marketers say their digital marketing mix isn’t optimized.” Citing that many marketers are measuring key indicators against B-to-C metrics like conversions and impressions – whereas they need to be focusing on B-to-B strategies.

A recent buzzword in targeted, personalized outreach is Account Based Marketing or ABM. Marketing Land online outlined some strategic steps to creating an account-based strategy. The most important of which is the last step – measurement.

So how can we effectively measure marketing and what are some key indicators in B-to-B targeting, especially with increased budgets in tech marketing?

Fineline has definitely seen an increase in numbers over the past 3-4 years particularly. It’s important to note that increase has been in targeted areas we purposefully marketed to and are certified within, including: Education, Healthcare, Non-Profit and Government. Which brings me to the point that leading indicators should be defined by how you want to shape your business.

Below are 3 things to consider when you are crafting key measured marketing indicators that align to company mission and strategy.

How can you identify leading indicators?

• Annual Strategic Plan

• Goals by department

• Tactical execution

Each October we take time out as an organization and marketing department to map out marketing goals and objectives, conversion points and success metrics. In terms of key measured marketing indicators, the key is that you need to be dedicated to continuously measuring your efforts to see what you can do more / less of.  We’ve made a lot of traction by being clear with what the next level is that we need to get to, that roll up into sales and revenue numbers for the organization as a whole.

What do you want your outcomes to be?

For example, social media is the most common pain point we see with setting key marketing indicators across many companies; should we have 10 or 10,000 followers? Depends on what you want them to do!

For Fineline’s 2014, 2015 and 2016 strategic goals, we aimed to create a social media identity and align key marketing indicators that resonated with our brand and engaged with the community.

After market research, we set out to engage with ideal communities and users in our top 3 key
networks:

 

• Results totaled:
  • Increase in total social traffic by 400% from 2014 to 2015, and nearly 40% already in 2016
  • Doubled social conversions whose best performing outlets ranked in priority with time investments (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook)
• Leads totaled:
  • 27% of leads in 2015 came through digital marketing channels
  • 18% of closed-won leads in 2015 can be directly aligned to digital marketing

Below are some of the softer, overall key measured marketing indicators for Fineline in the past 3 years, and their outcomes:

• Community Engagement: Increased sponsorships.  2X the number of events than past 3 years – also led print initiatives for the Indy Welcomes All campaign with the Indy Chamber, touching all Hoosiers and retailers.

• Niche target markets: 84% increase in case study visits – specific to niche markets and use cases within those markets.

• SEO: Increase in organic search by 57% from 2014-2015, and already 10% in 2016 (benchmarked against Jan – July timeframe).  Result of setting out to be intentional about metadata, content, keywords, strategy and PR both at a strategic level and within our tactical plan.

• Content: 96% of which all social visitors clicked-thru directly to a piece of marketing content on the site – of which content was specific to target markets and c-level executives looking to educate themselves on key measured marketing indicators for print, promotions and overall best practices.  61% increase to contact page sessions in 2015, driving direct conversions.

 

How can you personalize your story?

Fineline does, and sees this all the time with clients. Whether targeting niche industries by telling your story or mapping out your goals, be intentional and track what’s working for you in areas that will really improve your business.

About the Author:

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