And what you’re measuring against is key… trying to measure against an unrealistic goal or metric will only result in disappointment, and probably a reduction in budgets for your next campaign. This is why measurement is the centrepiece of all marketing practices, and something we do as standard for all our clients at ReallyB2B.

Whilst marketing does more than drive sales, it’s often the sales numbers – both leads and customers – that will determine success. And having the correct data and results can help determine the effectiveness of your investment in the activity. External factors will of course have an impact on the campaign, but being able to align your targets with leads created will be the biggest factor in ROI generation.

If you don’t know the true cost of your marketing activity, you’ll never know what to do more of, or what you need to pivot or stop. The learning process of campaigns is fundamental to what we do at ReallyB2B – with optimisation and performance monitoring sitting at the heart of all of our campaign management.

Measure, optimise, repeat

Truly successful campaigns are constantly under scrutiny – to understand what’s working, what’s not, and how things could be done differently. Like baking, you would check how it’s cooking, adjust the temperature, or the remaining time in the oven. And if it didn’t quite work out how you expected, you may change the mix of ingredients. You wouldn’t just throw the recipe out, along with the food. You would review, adapt and enhance.

It’s the same for marketing practices. Knowing that a campaign isn’t quite reaching your bullseye target audience, and not changing the targeting strategy, is like continuing to bake a cake that you know won’t rise.

Success isn’t just about measuring cost

At ReallyB2B, we look at multiple metrics to help understand the success of our campaigns, against forecast and client expectations. For us, everything starts with data like so…

• Fit: Are they the right lead? Are they the kind of opportunity you want to do business with?
• Engagement: How are they interacting with your brand [website visits] and what is their level of interest in the campaign [content downloads, social connection acceptances]?
• Intent: Are they in market right now for your product/service? Are they showing intent signs to have a demo or find out more information about the details of your offering?
• Lifetime value: Measuring only the initial order value will only get you so far. Some customers will grow their value year on year, whilst others will maintain their initial investment. Knowing which customers you’ve just won will help you plan for future activity.

A broken customer journey

With data sitting at the heart of your campaign and ensuring you’re targeting the most relevant audience, it’s also the central part of reporting. The buying cycle is complex, and often broken. We know that many prospects may start off by engaging with your activity, but then decide to follow their own path – creating a journey of their own that could be days, weeks or months after the initial engagement. And that doesn’t mean you’ve not influenced them. Quite the opposite. With over 90% of B2B decisions being made emotionally[i] – it takes time to research, review and consider a new supplier… one that fits with the ethos, values and requirements of the prospect’s business.

If you discounted these as true leads, you could be missing out on a large volume of revenue being attributed to your campaign. At ReallyB2B, we work with brands to help map out complex buyer journeys, delivering relevant channel touchpoints at key moments in the sales cycle, to drive conversion. And we never lose sight of a single prospect. Using a series of analytical steps, we monitor each touchpoint and engagement within the campaign, and database-match against web visits, social interactions and other engagement seen throughout the prospect’s business, to provide a unique lead score.

Our work with a leading coffee provider, has shown that over 72% of all leads generated have come from echo leads – those where a prospect has taken their own journey to the decision stage. Over the past few years, we have seen this number steadily increase. Similarly, our work with a leading nationwide hotel group has delivered 24% echo leads, with 98% activation.

And with numbers like that, it’s not just ABM campaigns where sales and marketing need to be in alignment. It is a multi-layered approach winning new customers, and one that requires marketing to show sales where to direct their budget and resource to convert – as we all know, we all have much less of both now!

Measuring effectiveness to drive success

At ReallyB2B, we have the knowledge and experience to track and measure all of our activity, enabling you to see the value in your marketing spend. Whether you’re looking to generate leads, create demand, or target a few high-value prospects in an ABM campaign – we can help. To find out what marketing metrics you should be focusing on and how best to capture this information, download our latest checklist…

Measure Your B2B Marketing Effectiveness

Alternatively, to discuss how our award-winning B2B marketing solutions can help you achieve your goals and targets in a highly measurable way, speak to us today on 0207 970 4123 or email marketing@reallyb2b.com.

[i] https://longitude.ft.com/beyond-reason-the-role-of-emotion-in-b2b-marketing-and-thought-leadership/