• How to measure - Google Analytics is a FR*EE MUST HAVE tool. You can get a weekly report on traffic to your site, sources of that traffic, keywords used, how long they're staying on the website and a number of other important measurements. Also, you can set specific goals that you want to achieve and it will track the results for you. With other online tools, there are usually statistics built in, such as with your email newsletter. For example, for your Facebook Fan page, you can get a weekly report on the activity for your page. For offline networking, you'll have to pay close attention and make time after each interaction to jot down the results. You can use a simple spreadsheet to track who you're interacting with and how many of those individuals are becoming clients. Keep all your data from your marketing tactics in one place, ideally a spreadsheet, so you or your assistant can quickly drop in the numbers.
• What you're looking for -As you measure, you should look out for trends, dips and spikes. For example, if you see a sudden jump in your website traffic one day, look back to see what you did. How can you replicate that? Do the same thing if you see a dip. Notice what you changed and determine how to revert to what worked well previously. If you notice a particular email newsletter didn't get a great open rate one week, consider what you did differently from the preceding weeks. Did the subject line not really connect? Did you send it at a different time of day? No one week of activity means much in and of itself. You want to compare at least 3-4 weeks of data to see what worked great (and keep doing it!) and what didn't work so you can tweak it and move forward.
Free Marketing & Promotion Newsletter
Braden Pilling
Canada