Introduction
Many organizations are aware that establishing an online presence with their target audience is essential, but how can the success of a program’s outreach campaign be most accurately measured? Without a methodology to determine whether an outreach campaign is effective, it’s marketing plan could be lacking direction. There are precise metrics that can be monitored to ensure it is meeting its goals outlined in its original marketing plan.
1. Website Traffic
An an organization’s website must be its “hub” for its outreach activities. It is the one chance to make a first impression on a prospect applicant, and it’s where the organization controls the information that those applicants need to make a decision. It’s also where it can learn if its outreach campaigns are effective or not. We are always amazed at the number of people we talk to who don’t know who is visiting their website and where they came from.
For a marketing outreach campaign to be effective, there needs to be a call-to-action. Whether it is calling a membership registration form, scholarship application form, watching a video, or visiting its website to learn more, the call-to-action is critical to marketing.
When engaging in digital marketing, it is advisable to have a landing page for the campaign that speaks to the any advertising or promotion ad with the specific call-to-action. It is helpful to analyze the overall website traffic to understand visitor metrics. If a marketing campaign is doing its job, the website will have consistent visitors intrigued with the program being offered. If, however, there is limited traffic, it may be time for you to change your marketing outreach campaign.
2. Traffic Sources
Another fundamental metric to monitor regularly is the website traffic sources. There are different sources that direct people to a website page or a program welcome page, and you need to strategize based on the medium in which you receive the most leads. Whether it be social media, Google search, or perhaps word-of-mouth, an organization must ensure that it maintains focus on maximizing traffic from every source available. This focus will occasionally involve investing more money into a specific platform’s advertisements or prioritizing one platform over another because most of its audience exists on that specific platform. Some marketing tools will work better than others, depending on your industry and target audience.
3. Cost Per Lead (CPL)
The cost per lead metric (CPL) is essential to contemplate as it helps to measure the cost-effectiveness of a marketing outreach campaign relative to the number of prospective clients created. If the cost for each customer is too great, there needs to be a change to an organization’s approach to its marketing as it is too expensive. The more effective the advertisement campaign, the lower the cost will be for each lead. If an organization releases a high quantity of advertisements with low quality, it will cost more money and not attract the leads needed for the organization to function ideally.
4. Average Time on a Website
The average time a person spends on the website indicates their interest the organization’s services and speaks to the quality of the website itself. This is called the “bounce rate”. If a website is not easy to navigate and isn’t appealing to look at, potential “customers” will immediately start questioning the quality of the program, services, etc. Building an attractive site for interested visitors will naturally result in higher quality leads in the organization’s future.
Ensuring the website is responsive for mobile devices is also key. If it isn’t, then visitors are going to jump off quickly and probably not click on the ad again.
5. Goals
Establishing goals and tracking on the website is critical to understanding the ad’s effectiveness. Goals can be defined as brochure downloads, visits to a specific page, a membership form completion, scholarship application submission, a contact or lead form submission, a product purchase – anything that will help the organization get a lead or broaden the awareness of its brand and ultimately lead to a new member, applicant, customer or sale. Most web tracking tools provide a way to set up goals.
Tools
Some website such as WordPress come with easy-to-install plug-ins to collect web statistics. There may not give a full range that can be achieved with tools such as Google Analytics, which can be enhanced even further with Google Tag Manager for the tracking of PDF file downloads, videos watched, exit links, form submissions and more.
Conclusion
Overall, monitoring the proper metrics will lead to more effective advertising and marketing campaigns throughout the evolution of an organization and its brand. By tracking the activity and sources of its website engagement, there is no doubt that there will be growth in the program objectives and goals and the overall success of the outreach effort. This is where a marketing agency can provide expertise and assistance in determining your marketing goals, setting up analytics, and interpreting the data for you. Contact RhythmQ to learn more about marketing to your target audience!