Using Analytics to Tackle Your 4 Biggest Marketing Problems

When you’re sick, you probably go to the doctor to find out what’s wrong, right? You don’t simply guess at what might be the problem and hope for the best. Marketing your business is no different. Taking a shot in the dark at what works and what doesn’t without properly examining each process and campaign is sure to end badly. That’s why analytics are so important. By understanding what is generating leads, and more importantly what is happening to those leads once they reach you, you can maximize your chance of converting browsers into paying customers.

Let’s take a look at how good analytics can help you tackle four of your biggest marketing concerns.

Problem #1: I don’t know what content will work and what won’t. Should I just guess?

Marketing on the internet is a science. To truly make the most out of your web activities, you must optimize your interactions so that when someone searches online for a business like yours, it’s your company that will show up at the top of those results. This is done through search engine optimization. A number of reputable sites, like SEO Moz, offer some fantastic (and better yet – free) SEO keyword tools to help you with your targeted keyword analytics. Once you understand exactly what words and terms your audience is using when they’re conducting searches, you’ll know precisely what words and terms to use throughout your site, blog and social media interactions to best capitalize on them.

Problem #2: Something’s wrong but I have no clue how to figure out what it is.

Successful marketing is about more than just designing and implementing a plan. It’s also about being able to recognize when there’s a kink in that plan that may be threatening to derail the entire operation. Otherwise you risk throwing away valuable marketing dollars on things that simply aren’t producing results. Using closed-loop analytics to examine the entire marketing process, from lead to conversion, you can identify what areas of your marketing funnel need work. For example, perhaps you’re getting a ton of traffic but very few conversions. This could mean that you’re focusing your marketing efforts on the wrong areas, so the wrong traffic is being driven to your site. Fix this and you’re back in business without wasting valuable time guessing at what the problem might be.

Problem #3: I’m using social media, but I have no idea how to measure the results.

One of the biggest myths about social media marketing is that ROI can’t be accurately measured. That’s simply not true. In fact, most of the popular platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, allow you to access detailed analytics information about your activities, which you can use to integrate with the other web analytics you are conducting to see the big picture. This helps you narrow down which interactions are producing the best results. Using tools like Google Analytics you can track which social media channels are generating the most traffic, and then narrow it down by specific campaign to further analyze the results.

Problem #4: I know I can track my leads online but I have no way of tracking offline leads.

We say ‘nay, nay’ to this! With tools like our Google Analytics Integration tool, you can now take the guesswork out of your offline advertising campaigns and ROI calculations. You can gather detailed call tracking information to learn exactly how many of your leads were generated through which channels, allowing you to focus your efforts (and marketing budget) on those methods that you know for certain are working. Now you can combine both your online and offline analytics to get “whole picture” results.

If you want to truly understand how your marketing activities are performing (and you should, or you’re most certainly losing money), analytics can help you do so and provide solutions to just about all of your marketing problems. By accurately measuring your results, you’ll be able to maximize your efforts to achieve the best possible return on your investment.

Labels: how to improve marketing performance, marketing, small business tips

Know Your Leads: A Look at How Call Stats Can Help Improve Your Marketing Performance

Up till now, we’ve been mostly yapping about virtual PBX systems in general terms. But perhaps it’s time to get a bit more specific and examine individual features up close. Let’s start with something exotic, like the ability to view call stats.

Not unlike Clark Kent, this little feature might appear unimpressive on first sight (what’s with that dorky outfit and those square glasses)—but just throw it into the ring and see what happens.

That's because some things show their value only in action.

So here’s a practical scenario that will flush out any hidden superpowers.

Your Marketing Efforts

Let’s say you own a small business. Following the age-old advice, you've split your precious marketing eggs between several baskets: two local papers (the ‘Morning Sun’ and the ‘Faraway Star’), your website, and lastly, in a fit of creativity (or perhaps desperation) you decided to put up an ad on your local Craigslist Classifieds. 'What the heck’—it’s free, right?

Now comes the waiting game...

Your Dilemma

So while we sit here waiting for the phone to start going off the hook, why not ponder a philosophical question: wouldn’t it be nice to know just how many leads each of those platform generated?

I mean, if you only have one business number (and included this same phone number in all four places, how will you tell where each caller got whiff of you and your business?

Sure, you could start surveying your prospective clients. But that double-edged nuisance is going to slide right through your time and their patience—not the best way to get off to a good start...

Anything else?

You could perhaps try checking how many people ‘clicked’ on the ‘Contact us’ link on your website—but that doesn’t necessarily mean they all proceeded to call you, and it sure isn’t going to help you glean any information about the other three...

Fair to say, this is as far as your little foray into statistics is likely to get.

And here’s how Synclio can help you take it a step further:

Phone Call Number Tracking with Goolgle Analytics

First, Synclio gives you the ability to port numbers. ‘Porting’ numbers means that when a number is called the call is instantaneously redirected to a different number. Ever changed providers and had your calls follow you? That’s exactly it!

(Just don’t ask us how it’s done—we’ll call it ‘magic’)

Then, Synclio also lets you select as many local and toll-free phone numbers as you need.

Now let’s connect the dots.

Suppose you’ll assign a different phone number to each ad you've placed and port all four numbers to your one business line... You’ll still be receiving and answering calls on your phone just as you normally would, but in the background—magic will be happening!

When the day is done and you’ve signed up all those new customers, you’ll now be able to simply kick back, pull up your laptop, and watch as Synclio’s think-o-matic-extraordinaire (powered by Google Analytics) reveals just how many calls were placed to each of the numbers you have ported.

The Bottom Line

So even if you’ve been paying a hefty fee to see your ads prominently featured in the Morning Sun and the Faraway Star, you may learn from this little experiment that the bulk of callers actually followed your electronic bread-crumbs-trail via the freebie Craigslist.

Going to reshuffle your marketing eggs now? You betcha!

This is just one of the ways viewing call stats can help improve your business strategy and marketing performance.

And it teaches us never to judge a man or a feature by their outfit—at least not before they've had a chance to take it off and kick some @#$!

09/19/11 Edited to adjust spelling and update information.

Labels: business, call, call stats, cloud computing, how to improve marketing performance, leads, marketing, porting, statistics, technology, virtual PBX, virtual phone