As lead generation marketers, we tend to place a heavy focus on performance metrics like conversion rates, cost per acquisition and return on investment. And it’s certainly true that without keeping an eye on metrics like this, it becomes increasingly difficult for us to justify the costs of our marketing activities to shareholders and senior management.
But at the same time, it’s also possible to become so focussed on metrics like these that we ignore everything else, and that’s a mistake. I remember a company I used to work with that published daily YouTube videos with updates about their industry. According to their website’s analytics, very little traffic was coming through from YouTube – but when they stopped publishing those videos, direct traffic dropped by 30%, and their website conversions suffered as a result of it.
Of course, this is an example of analytical data failing to tell the full story, but sometimes it really is a case of your lead generation tactics failing to gain traction at all. One of the big reasons why this happens is that companies launch a lead gen programme, fail to see results immediately and then scrap the programme before it reaches fruition. It’s much, much better to tweak it and keep running it for long enough to get a real feel for if it’s working or not.
Vanity metrics
Meanwhile, there are other metrics to think about, right down to the number of impressions your ads make and whether you pick up any engagement amongst your social media following. The truth is that digital marketing should work as a holistic whole, instead of just focusing on immediate conversions and returns on investment.
Don’t get me wrong, your ROI is the ultimate metric that should form the foundation of your KPIs – it’s just not everything. There’s a lot to be said by building value now that you can benefit from later, whether that’s by picking up social media followers that might later register on your site and join your CRM or whether that’s by simply picking up a larger share of the conversation than your competitors.
B2B marketers tend to be more focused on performance metrics like conversions and ROIs than B2C companies, but perhaps both parties can learn from each other. If we’re willing to step slightly away from those hardcore performance metrics, it helps our marketing to be more human. And ironically, that can improve that all-important ROI by making you more likeable and much more approachable.
Conclusion
You can get carried away if you try to measure too much, and so we’re not advocating tracking every single metric you can think of in the hope that you can somehow justify more money from the finance department. That said, it’s important to take a look at a broad set of metrics when evaluating your lead generation campaign’s performance. That way, when you do decide to pull a campaign, you can be sure that you’re not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Need a little help with lead generation? Help is at hand. Request a demo of Bant.io to find out how we can help your company to grow by sending hot B2B leads directly to your inbox. You won’t regret it.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.