In the words of Shane Atchison and Jason Bury, from their critically acclaimed book “Does it Work”:
“Business Goals are Everything”
On the list of marketing priorities for business, setting goals is number one.
Not only must a business do this first, but it must be held at the forefront of everything the business does, and therefore everything each department, group or project is working toward accomplishing.
Goals are “careful estimates of expected outcomes” they serve to not only push a project forward, but to define success. Without knowing what success looks like, teams can become de-motivated, disorganized and ineffective. Relative to the overarching business goal, it is important to set up individual goals for each project within that business, and it is important that those goals line up with the ultimate measurement of success.
Here are 3 goals to create for your business for the final quarter of 2016:
- Link Online Efforts with Offline Results: An increase in “likes” and “shares” is great and all, but what does that actually mean in terms of conversion. If we aren’t tracking what our “fans” are actually doing, we won’t know if all of that social buzz is worth the energy, time and money. A great way to start measuring this is to utilize a loyal customer reward system. Providing information and promotions online that can then be utilized in-store or perhaps on your online store. That kind of marketing is easily tracked to cost vs. conversion.
- Create a Conversation: Your digital marketing efforts can do more than just drive a client to pick up the phone or purchase online. The modern state of buyer behavior shows a great interest in becoming educated prior to purchase. Therefore, knowing what your clients are curious about, and then providing that information can be as (if not more) effective than shoving calls to action down your potential buyers throat. Consider create a customer survey relative to elements that would make them more likely to purchase your product or service. Gather as much information as you can and then create a plan of action to implement your new-found knowledge into your marketing strategy.
- Shift focus to Micro-Conversions: Just because a potential buyer didn’t convert on their first visit to your website, doesn’t mean they wont in the future. Set yourself up for some reasonable micro-conversion goals but determining what steps a customer takes prior to purchase. For instance, if you have an online store, you can track how many people navigated from your website to the store, what they looked at while they were in your store, and what they placed into their shopping cart. They may not purchase your product or service directly after that, but they are one step closer, and that is something worth both celebrating and paying close attention to. What micro-conversion step occurs most often directly before a conversion? What most often happens that keeps a customer from converting? Can you shift some of your marketing focus there?
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