How to Proof Marketing Success? – It is in the Pudding
How many times have you heard this phrase?
“Proof is in the pudding.” This idiom is usually stated that the proof is in the pudding and means that the result is the mark of the success or failure of one's efforts or planning. This, therefore, is the perfect corrective saying to use in your business marketing and promotion efforts.
“Proof is in the pudding.”
Naturally, any modern-day marketing person or agency will want your business to define what it wants to achieve in its marketing efforts. This, however, is the wrong question, to begin with.
Instead, any business needs to define its product or service first, in terms of understanding what the sales process is and who would want to buy it. With this question answered, we can start to bake our cake.
Marketing is the central ingredient for your business – it is in place to support, promote and grow the audience, reputation and development of the company. The means to do this, are of course, endless. Each business will have a different strategy it will need to follow, and this is the duty of your marketing team.
But how can you prove that your marketing works?
Firstly, you need to define the MMM, the Marketing Measurement Metrics for your organisation. These can effectively be anything, but we suggest you need to look at the following:
1. Percentage of Sales Pipeline Generated by Marketing
Instead of looking at the number of leads that come from marketing, find out how much of the total sales pipeline is generated from marketing. Analysing the percentage, rather than a single figure, considers the number of leads that converted into SQLs.
2. Opportunities Created by Marketing
Tracking the number of opportunities created by marketing is a great way to indicate if marketers understand what defines a sales-ready lead. A high volume of opportunities in the pipeline from marketing means that marketers are targeting the right audience, uncovering buyer intent, and finding leads at the bottom of the funnel.
3. Closed Deals Generated by Marketing
For sales, closing deals is their top priority, but they can’t do it without help from marketing. Tracking the number of closed deals generated by marketing shows the direct impact of their efforts on the company’s bottom line. This metric is especially impactful when showcasing the ROI of marketing to leadership.
Once the metrics are understood, marketing will now need to deliver the results. So, the best way to deliver? Bake a good cake and make sure everyone likes it.