My marketing experience almost goes back to the heyday of the hit TV show Mad Men. I can remember the advertising campaigns that we developed for clients that included TV, print, radio and direct mail. In theory, everything was to work together. But how did we know? Tracking was on a macro basis. Running a market research awareness campaign was way after the campaign. And, it was expensive and not very time sensitive.
We also had to prepare way in advance. Once locked in, the ability to be flexible was very limited. Follow-up was difficult and equally costly. And creating a dashboard that allowed you to understand all the inter-relationships was difficult at best.
So let’s fast forward to today. And without mentioning our client’s name, I want to talk to you a little about what is going on…something that is light years away from the “good old days.” First, we have been able to significantly drive people to their website. How? By using key words that enable their search. Second, our Google ranking has enhanced significantly since we turn out a blog about every other day which provides real information for their potential users.
We have been able to run a pay-per-click campaign which continues to be modified to determine the most cost-effective words so that the return on investment for our campaign is always monitored. Think about our ability to pull this off ten, much less thirty, years ago.
Finally we have been able to harness Facebook by running a sweepstakes, giving away product. The net results of this campaign are twofold. First, we have doubled our likes and increased awareness, and second, we are building our email list which will allow us to go to predisposed potential customers to promote both our existing products as well as launch new ones.
So how do we measure? We have constructed a dashboard which allows us to measure everything. I can look at a sales chart above an activities chart. We know what we are doing when we book sales and we know what we are doing or not doing during periods where we have lower or limited sales.
All of the above has allowed us to be much more analytical about our approach to business. For me it means turning on my computer anytime during the 24/7 time period and understanding exactly what is happening. But if you are living the brand, isn’t that what you are supposed to do?
