How Do I Know That My Marketing is Working?

As a local business owner, it is essential to know whether or not your marketing is working. Measuring the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns enables you to make informed decisions and adjust your strategies accordingly.

Some indicators that your marketing is working include an increase in website traffic, decrease in bounce rates, engagement on social media, and a rise in sales or leads. On the other hand, if you notice a decline in any of these areas, it may be time to reassess your marketing efforts and make changes to improve results.

What are the key elements of a successful marketing strategy?

Just to make sure we’re on the same page, let’s first talk super quickly about the key elements of a successful marketing strategy.

The key elements of a successful marketing strategy include defining your target audience, identifying your unique selling proposition, building a brand image, setting measurable goals, selecting the right marketing channels, and constantly analyzing and refining your approach.

If any of these areas are not functioning as they should, your marketing efforts can still be effective! Surprised to hear that? However, you want to do your best to make sure that each of your marketing strategy “holes” are fixed because as you know, it only takes a small hole to sink a massive ship!

So let’s jump in! How do you know if your marketing is working or if it is not working?

A List of How You Know Your Marketing is Working

There are lists for everything and this list is focused on how you know your marketing is working!

Increase in website traffic

A rise in the number of visitors to your website indicates that your marketing strategies are driving more people to your online hub. You can use web analytics tools like Google Analytics to monitor your website traffic and identify where the traffic is coming from and what pages of your website are being accessed the most. Personally, I don’t use Google Analytics, but rather, I use a WordPress plugin called BURST statistics.

Many times, you can have a great website design, but you don’t have enough leads coming into the pipeline. So even though your website traffic might increase, that cannot be the only factor with how you measure your website’s success. That being said, if your website traffic is growing, you’re definitely doing something right!

Engagement on social media

Social media is a powerful marketing tool, and if people are actively engaging with your content, it indicates that your marketing strategies are resonating with your audience. You can track social media engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and followers to understand how effective your social media efforts are.

But in order to know if your social media is being successful, you need to make sure that you know why you are on social media and what constitutes as a win!

Rise in sales or leads

Measuring the increase in sales or leads generated through your marketing campaigns is a direct way of knowing whether or not your marketing is working! I mean, this one just seems logical to me!

Customer feedback

Pay close attention to what your customers are saying about your business, products, and services. Positive feedback, reviews, and testimonials indicate that your marketing messages are being received positively. Negative feedback, on the other hand, signifies that there may be areas where your marketing needs improvement.

If you want to learn how you can grow your reviews online, reach out to me to learn about my reputation management solution to help your local business grow!

Return on investment (ROI)

One of the most critical metrics to track is the ROI of your marketing campaigns. This will help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing spending and make informed decisions about future investments. You can calculate ROI by dividing the revenue generated by your marketing campaign by the cost of the campaign.

Brand awareness

Measuring your brand awareness is a crucial indicator of marketing success. If your target audience is starting to recognize and remember your brand, then it means your marketing strategies are effective. You can track this by conducting surveys, analyzing social media mentions, or using brand monitoring tools.

Improved search engine rankings

If your website is ranking higher on search engines, then your marketing efforts are contributing to attracting more visitors to your site and boosting your online visibility. You can track your search engine rankings using SEO tools like SEMrush, Moz, Ahrefs, or my personal favorite, Ubersuggest, but you can also track your search engine rankings through Google’s very own Search Console!

You Know Marketing is Working With Repeat Business

Repeat customers and increased customer loyalty are a sign that your marketing efforts are resonating with your audience and driving customer engagement. You can track repeat business by analyzing customer data or using customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

In fact, repeat business is the BEST way for you to grow your business! So many times, people want to constantly go after new business, but it’s been proven that since you’ve already gained the trust of a customer, you are more likely to have them work with you again!

Competitive analysis

Monitoring your competitors’ marketing efforts can also help you gauge the effectiveness of your own marketing strategies. If you are outperforming your competitors in terms of sales, website traffic, or customer engagement, then it means your marketing is working. Similarly, if your competitors are outperforming you, then it’s time to reevaluate your marketing strategies.

How Do I Know Your Marketing Isn’t Working?

Your website traffic is low

When you aren’t seeing a significant amount of visitors to your website, then your marketing efforts are not likely to be effective.

No engagement on social media

If your social media posts aren’t getting any likes, comments or shares, then you might need to rethink your strategy.

High bounce rate

When visitors are leaving your website as soon as they land on it, then it’s likely your website isn’t providing enough value or the user experience is poor.

Low conversion rates

Maybe your website is getting traffic, but visitors aren’t converting into customers, then it’s likely that your marketing message is not resonating with your audience. Low conversation can be sales, filled out contact forms, or not signing up for your email list. You first need to establish your marketing goals before you can determine what constitutes as a “low conversation.”

Lack of brand awareness

If your target audience is not aware of your brand or what you offer, then your marketing strategy isn’t effective.

What Should You Do If You Find That Your Marketing Isn’t Working?

If you find that your marketing isn’t working, there are many things you can do! You can start by taking online courses, watching YouTube, and reading blogs so that you can do it yourself, or you can save your time and sanity by hiring a local digital marketing company to help you out!

If you find that it’s not so much a marketing problem as it is a website design and development problem, you should hire a great website designer!

If you have a great website already, but you aren’t showing up in search results, you might want to learn the basics of SEO or hire an SEO company to help you get those results!

You can do many things, but the one thing that you CANNOT DO is simply sit still and pray for the best! Marketing takes strategy, design, implementation, and testing in order to make sure it’s done properly!

Ready to grow your marketing efforts?

If you aren’t sure if your digital marketing is working for your business, it’s time to call in for support! Let’s start a conversation where I can learn about your business, point you in the correct direction, and come alongside you and your business to grow and strengthen your marketing efforts.