No matter which methods you choose to market your business with, there will be data associated with it. At Search4Local, we provide reports for all of our SEO, PPC and social media advertisement customers. These reports show data about how the campaign is working, including increases in traffic, engagement and conversions. If you’re looking to step up your game and use that data to inform further marketing endeavours, keep reading.
Reading Your Marketing Campaign Data
To make an informed decision, you need to know how to read and understand the data you have at hand. Thankfully, we’ve put together comprehensive guides to understanding data from SEO, PPC and social media campaigns.
No matter which strategies you’re using, all of them demand a little patience. There’s no use in setting something live for a few hours and making a decision from there. Data takes time to collect, and it’s worth waiting to ensure you have enough data to get the full picture of what’s going on. For PPC and social media campaigns, you can start to get an idea of success within a relatively short window of time. However, for SEO, you should wait at least 6 months before deciding to make any changes.
Making Judgements Based On Good Data
If you’re reading the data and it looks good, that’s great! You may be thinking about upping your efforts and increasing your campaigns.
There’s an old saying that goes ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’, and this can be applied to marketing strategies. If your current strategy is working effectively, you should try not to make any changes to it. Of course, fresh content is needed, but the overall tone and messaging should remain the same. If you want to branch out and reach new areas and audiences, do so using the successful campaign as inspiration.
Making Judgements Based On Bad Data
If the data shows that your campaigns simply aren’t working, it’s time to make some changes. Unless you have a very good idea of why it’s not working, it’s a good idea to take a measured approach. When making changes, ideally you will change one thing at a time, then measure the result.
Before deciding what to change, you should carry out some research. Have a look at what your competitors are doing and compare it to your current campaign. The differences could reveal where you’re going wrong. Perhaps you’re using the wrong keywords, or maybe the language you’re using isn’t connecting with your audience.
You may be able to ask a group of customers what they think of your marketing efforts. Honest feedback directly from your target audience could be extremely valuable and help you make the changes you need.
What To Look At
There are a few key areas of data that should be looked at when reviewing your campaigns. What you see and what that means will depend a little on what campaigns you’re running. For example, a steady increase in results is a good sign that an SEO package is working. Spikes that correspond with PPC or social media advertising being deployed is a good sign that those adverts are effective.
We think the following are the most valuable when it comes to making decisions:
Traffic – What’s happened to your website traffic since the campaign began? Has it increased or decreased? Has it stayed around the same? Changes in traffic can indicate whether your products are working, and whether the right audience are seeing your efforts.
Conversions – Each business will have a slightly different definition of what a conversion is. We’ll use enquiries as an example. Many local businesses take enquiries by email, contact form and telephone calls. You should be keeping a record of every conversion you get, and comparing the average amount each time you add a new campaign or change what you’re currently doing.
Plan Your Marketing Strategy With Search4Local
A lot of work goes into formulating a successful marketing strategy. At Search4Local, our mission is to help busy business owners to get the most out of their campaigns. We’re experts at putting together SEO, PPC and social media advertising strategies to get you the best results. Contact our friendly team today to start your journey with us.
