I continue to read and enjoy Richard Meyer’s articles on his New Media and Marketing Blog. One recent article was entitled, “Do we really need to consistently measure ROI of everything ?”, spoke to the need or lack thereof of constantly trying to measure ROI especially with Social Media. Richard makes the case that countless hours and thousands of dollars is wasted when trying to understand and quantify the effectiveness of social media. It puts it plainly, “ROI starts and ends with sales” and I agree that the easiest thing to measure is revenue. To that end why not create a dashboard that measure sales as related to marketing campaigns? Our clients here at Astir Analytics have created dashboards that bring in all of their marketing campaigns both online and offline into one place to have one version of the truth. From this dashboard that can tell in a few simple mouse clicks how they are doing and if in fact they are moving the company towards reaching its sales goals.
Please contact me to learn more on how we can help you gather the right Information to provide the most accurate Insight and yield the best Results.
Thank you,
Nathan
Nathan Lynn | Director of Business Development
Astir Analytics
I really enjoy reading Richard Meyer’s New Media and Marketing Blog. Richard has been involved in Marketing and specifically Digital Pharmaceutical Marketing for many years. His last post on Social Media ROI got me thinking. Social Media continues to be a hot topic, if it wasn’t, then you wouldn’t be reading our Astir Analytics Blog at this very moment! Just the mention of Social Media and ROI in the same sentence can create a debate that might take on epic proportions. Some will argue that it is very hard to measure the effectiveness of Social Media, others have found tools (as mentioned in Richard’s post) that help you manage your Twitter account. I think that regardless of the platform or the medium there has to be some sort of stake in the ground as to why you will engage in yet another form of Marketing, in this case Social Media. Once you have established your rationale you need to set up some benchmarks to measure and manage the time you will invest. You may acknowledge that from the very beginning the ROI will be low because you are still pushing out content as you would through a PR firm or maybe it will be high as you engage in customer conversations as Gary Vaynerchuk explains so eloquently on his new book “The Thank You Economy”.
Either way, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. The unique advantage our clients have when working with us is that we help them build the tools they need to measure their Marketing effectiveness albeit: Social Media campaigns, Email campaigns or Offline campaigns. We bring it all together so that you have one view of “How Am I Doing?”.
Let’s begin a conversation that starts here, as I know that our Social Media ROI dollars are well spent and you should know that as well.
Thank you,
Nathan
Nathan Lynn | Director of Business Development
Astir Analytics
50 Cragwood Rd., Suite 219 | South Plainfield, NJ 07080
Office (908) 279-8670 x717 | Mobile (973) 699-7122
www.astiranalytics.com
With every company having the power of content creation, literally at their fingertips, Ann Handley and CC Chapman recently wrote in their book book Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business, that it is important for companies to welcome this role as a publisher. However it is not just important to embrace the role with volumes of content, targeted content and content that makes sense to the company audience is key. Eleven content rules are in turn offered. To see a synopsis, go to the following article http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2476/why-content-marketing-rules-and-whats-in-it-for-you?adref=nlt010712&utm_source=mptw&utm_medium=quicktake&utm_campaign=basic&utm_term=content&utm_content=article.
Once all of the targeted content is created and published and as content is updated (in order to keep the message and information fresh and new) measurement is required. It important area that needs to be understood is what works and what does not.
The experts at Astir Analytics, Astir IT Solutions and Sysnet Technology Solutions can help you get your arms around this area. We can work with you in understanding the response rates, understanding what measures are important and most importantly understanding what works, and what does not.
We can walk you through the process of helping you understand the Information to give you better Insight and in the end gain greater Results.
Give me a call, I’d love to discuss the Astir difference.
Bob Markowitz
Vice President
(908) 279-8670 ext. 704
bmarkowitz@astiranalytics.com
As the year comes to a close and you reflect back on 2011 and prepare for 2012 one of the areas that you might be focusing on is how your Sales team did this year in converting their Marketing leads. Are your leads converting to Sales? Here are a few that should not be overlooked.
In a recent article on Marketo entitled “Are You Lost In A B2B Sales Lead Pardox” the concept of Lead Scoring is discussed as playing a huge role is driving the success of your sales team. They need to be focused on the right leads at the right time. Not only does does the Marketing Team and The Sales Team need to come to a consensus on the proper scoring, the leads need to flow to the correct reps through an appropriate technology solution. Our firm Astir Analytics has the experience and capabilities to not only help you define the proper Lead Scoring for your unique needs but we can also help you deploy a system to help you manage and move the leads through the organization effectively.
The other topic I want to mention from the article is the concept of You can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure. Analytics plays another key and critical role in managing those valuable leads at any given point of time. Having the right Information to provide the best Insight can only lead to the better Results in your Lead Management Program.
If you would like to learn about our Client’s Success Stories please feel free to contact me for more details, our hope is that we can create the same results for you and your organization.
Happy Holidays from Astir Analytics!
Nathan Lynn
Dir, Business Development
Astir Analytics
nlynn@astiranalytics.com
(973) 699-7122
Nathan Hanks, co-founder and co-chief operating officer of ReachLocal recently wrote an article entitled “10 Ways to Own Page One of the Google Search Results” (http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2011/6381/10-ways-to-own-page-one-of-the-google-search-results). In his article he lists the top 10 ways to get your listing on page 1 of the Google search results as follows (by the way, his description is focused on the local business perspective) :
- Search Advertising
- Website
- Web page optimization
- Blog
- Google Place Page
- Google Profiles
- On-line Directories / Listings
- Social Profiles
- Review Sites
- Syndicated Press Releases
While combinations of the above items certainly will drive up your listings, what needs to be understood is that continual refinement of the above is absolutely necessary, no matter which ones of the above you undertake. It’s not as easy as set it and forget it, since your competition is also vying for the key page 1 listings.
What isn’t discussed in his article is the constant monitoring, measurement and refinement necessary in order to continue to succeed. While it takes a considerable amount of work to get to page 1, it takes as much or more work to stay on the page 1 listings. Astir Analytics helps our clients tackle their measurement, analysis, and reporting needs, by designing solutions built to meet the most demanding needs.
We can help you through the process of helping you understand the Information to give you better Insight and in the end gain greater Results.
Give me a call, I’d love to discuss the Astir difference,
Bob Markowitz
Vice President
(908) 279-8670 ext. 704
bmarkowitz@astiranalytics.com
There was an interesting guest blog on Marketing Profs a few days ago by Jim Sterne, which talked about the 6 most important online marketing metrics (http://www.mpdailyfix.com/the-six-most-important-online-marketing-metrics-ever/?adref=nlt092611).
Jim points to the following areas, that should be measured:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Engagement
- Sales
- Profits
- Advocacy
He summarizes by stating that “the magic here is tying together all of the above”.
Probably the bigger trick for most, is making it happen!! There are plenty of tools out there to measure the components but putting them together so that they not only summarize the “how many” but also provide a meaningful accounting of what it all mean is not so obvious. Which is where Astir Analytics comes in.
At Astir Analytics we help our clients tackle their metrics and reporting issues and design solutions that meet the most demanding markets. We can help you through the process of understanding the Information to give you better Insight and in the end greater Results.
Give me a call, I’d love to discuss the Astir difference,
Bob Markowitz
Vice President
(908) 279-8670 ext. 704
bmarkowitz@astiranalytics.com
I just came across an article from Vendere Partners that highlights the importance of advanced planning when preparing for a Marketing event. The article focuses in large part on two key elements that must be considered before you even write the check for the deposit. They are timing and location. If you chose a bad time of the year such as the summer when many folks take vacation or a city that has an multiple events any given day you are bound to miss out on driving attendees and ultimately potential sales. One point that I feel needs to be emphasized is the need to incorporate the measurement of success metrics from the very start. It is vitally important that you have the right tools and foundation in place to track and monitor your performance even before, during and after the event. Making sure the leads are captured correctly, entered into database and tracked /routed for follow up is critical. Many months after the event is concluded you will have collected enough data to help you recognize if the event was a success or a failure.
Here at Astir Analytics we help our clients understand the key and critical elements for analysis and reporting that need to go into a Marketing Campaign. We have helped our clients answer the age old question, ”Was it worth it?” How confident would you feel when asked that very same question by your CEO?
At the core of our business we help our clients apply our solutions to help them work with better Information, which leads to better Insight and in the end, better Results.
Give me a call, I’d love to discuss the Astir difference.
Thank you,
Nathan
Nathan Lynn
Director of Business Development
908-279-8670 x717
nlynn@astiranalytics.com
I just finished reading an online article in Entrepreneur by Brad Sugars entitled, “Why Tracking Marketing Metrics Can Pay Off“. One point that really hit home for me was the following quote,
“Most direct marketers are happy to achieve a response rate of 1 percent to 2 percent — or 2 percent to 4 percent if they include a telemarketing component. That means the recipients discard 98 percent to 99 percent of their materials without a second thought.”
I think that this is a very striking concept that many folks seem to gloss over. He goes on to say that it is critical to focus on the metrics that many people seem to take for granted: lifetime value of your clients and the customer acquisition cost. These two elements will allow you to create a baseline for your organization and ultimately put you in the position to improve upon them.
This begs the question: Do you have a handle on these numbers or are your Marketing campaigns going to be unsuccessful before they even get off the ground. Is the the status quo really acceptable? Maybe you are targeting the wrong market or maybe you are spending way too much in a particular channel. You won’t know until you get closer to the numbers!
At Astir Analytics we help our clients tackle their metrics and reporting issues and design solutions that meet the most demanding markets. If you feel that your are underserved by your IT department and would like to beat the odds then I would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. We can help you through the process of understanding the Information at your finger tips to give you better Insight and in the end greater Results.
Thank you,
Nathan Lynn
Director of Business Development
908-279-8670 x717
nlynn@astiranalytics.com
I recently read an article on Marketing Profs titled, “Four Facets of Strategic Storytelling” by Bill Baker. The first point that Bill makes is that Storytelling is a pull, not a push strategy. This really resonated with me and what we are doing here at Astir Analytics. Marketing and its many tactics serve as a great vehicle for promoting your organization’s good and services. Unfortunately, this is where many people feel they need to “push” their message over and over again to make sure that it gets through. This model is no longer effective as the article points out, now you need to “pull” your prospects in by engaging and interacting with them – make them feel connected. This concept also works with your internal clients as well. As a Marketing professional you need to be a proficient storyteller when it comes to pulling people into understanding your successes. There is a saying that the “numbers tell a story”, it is your job to tell the numbers story in a way that everyone understands.
Here at Astir Analytics we help our clients become great storytellers by providing them with the tools to read in between the lines and understand the Marketing metrics they are collecting. Our tools help you answer the Key Business Question – did our Marketing effort move the business forward, did we convert a prospect into a client?
Please contact me today so we can share some of our client’s success stories where we have helped them turn Information into Insight and ultimately Results!
Thank you,
Nathan
Nathan Lynn | Director of Business Development
(908) 279-8670 x717
nlynn@astiranalytics.com
I came across a great article this morning that touches upon the importance of moving beyond the basics when collecting the appropriate Return On Investment (ROI) metrics for your Marketing campaigns. You can read the full article here. Gone are the days when email open rate and link click through are the indictors of success for an email marketing campaign. As the author goes on to say, now Marketing is being held accountable for the number of leads that are generated and passed to Sales. What can be said of the quality of those leads, were they worth passing along? should they have been nurtured longer or most importantly was there a direct correlation to a sale? There are more now than ever additional and even more valuable metrics that need to be collected throughout the lifecycle of those leads.
The author says it best here:
Marketing can and should directly impact a company’s bottom line. With new systems and processes, marketers are now given access to new metrics that will help them do a better job and measure their impact on actual revenue. It’s time to go beyond the simple metrics of opens and clicks to more meaningful metrics that truly give marketers a glimpse into campaign effectiveness and the quality of leads.
The good news is Astir Analytics is ready to help you define and build these new systems and processes that at the end of the day can help Marketing confidently measure their impact to the bottom line. Here at Astir Analytics, we can provide you with the tools to better understand your RETURN and the only way is with better Information which leads to better Insight and at the end better Results.
Please contact me so that we can discuss this further, I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Nathan Lynn
Director of Business Development
(908) 279-8670 extension 717
nlynn@astiranalytics.com
