Defining Your Success
What is success? Ask 100 people and you'll get 100 different answers -- each one as unique as the person providing it. Everyone is different in how they define success for themselves and their marketing efforts.
Success tends to be a very slippery term when it comes to defining how it will be measured. To get to a useful answer it's often necessary to take a step back and spend some time thinking about what are the key things that have to be accomplished in order to make your business successful. It's hard work and takes time that you might not have. However, it's well worth the investment for those who choose to do so.
Instead, many people find it easier to just dive in and create another promotion fueled by high-octane headlines and sexy graphics rather than wrestle with how they will define success for their next campaign or for the next year. It meets the sense of urgency to "do something now," and there is a sense of satisfaction that comes from it.
But after all the promotional smoke clears and the dust settles we're often left feeling a little unsure as to how well our promotion really worked. Did that ad really raise our brand awareness? Did we generate new leads? If we did, where did they go? Did our sales team or product managers see an increase in sales? Was it worth the money? Should we do it again? Should we do it more often? Was it worth the effort at all?
All of these questions are important, but they become very difficult, if not impossible, to answer unless you've taken the time to define what success means to you and your organization. While everyone will define success differently, here are some ideas to help you start thinking about how to define success in measurable ways.
Aiming for success
The old cliché "if you aim for nothing, you're going to hit it every time" certainly applies in your online marketing campaigns. It's critically important to define what it is you want to accomplish from the very beginning.
While most of us have some idea what we want to accomplish, we often are too vague in stating our goals. For example, at AuntMinne.com we often hear from our partners, "my goal is to increase sales." There's nothing wrong with that statement, but it does little to help you decide how you are going to do that, how your efforts will be measured and when it will be done.
A good goal statement incorporates the following three elements:
Click here to read more …
What is success? Ask 100 people and you'll get 100 different answers -- each one as unique as the person providing it. Everyone is different in how they define success for themselves and their marketing efforts.
Success tends to be a very slippery term when it comes to defining how it will be measured. To get to a useful answer it's often necessary to take a step back and spend some time thinking about what are the key things that have to be accomplished in order to make your business successful. It's hard work and takes time that you might not have. However, it's well worth the investment for those who choose to do so.
Instead, many people find it easier to just dive in and create another promotion fueled by high-octane headlines and sexy graphics rather than wrestle with how they will define success for their next campaign or for the next year. It meets the sense of urgency to "do something now," and there is a sense of satisfaction that comes from it.
But after all the promotional smoke clears and the dust settles we're often left feeling a little unsure as to how well our promotion really worked. Did that ad really raise our brand awareness? Did we generate new leads? If we did, where did they go? Did our sales team or product managers see an increase in sales? Was it worth the money? Should we do it again? Should we do it more often? Was it worth the effort at all?
All of these questions are important, but they become very difficult, if not impossible, to answer unless you've taken the time to define what success means to you and your organization. While everyone will define success differently, here are some ideas to help you start thinking about how to define success in measurable ways.
Aiming for success
The old cliché "if you aim for nothing, you're going to hit it every time" certainly applies in your online marketing campaigns. It's critically important to define what it is you want to accomplish from the very beginning.
While most of us have some idea what we want to accomplish, we often are too vague in stating our goals. For example, at AuntMinne.com we often hear from our partners, "my goal is to increase sales." There's nothing wrong with that statement, but it does little to help you decide how you are going to do that, how your efforts will be measured and when it will be done.
A good goal statement incorporates the following three elements:
Click here to read more …
