Deciphering The Metrics - Part Four: KPI's

 

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This journey of ours comes to an end with this final piece of the four part series, but this really should be the tip of the iceberg as far as your Digital Marketing Strategy goes. These are the stats. These are what allows you to demand bigger contracts. 

It's not easy. The fact that this information required four, separate articles to effectively translate the information should give a clear indication of how delicate the digital marketing world actually is. It's not as simple as posting to social media and writing an occasional blog. It's not as inconceivable as many Marketing Agencies would have you believe either. This is not an impossible world, it's just a demanding one. It's not one you should try to "do on a budget." If you're going to play in this world, assemble your team and take the field. Just know that taking the field with inferior equipment and inexperienced play-callers can cost you more than you can recover. Get someone like Trending Up Digital Services on your side early in this game and give yourself a shot at victory. Our strategies are "Win-Win." You win. Your clients win. We win. 

Today, we look at KPI's. Key Performance Indicators are probably things that you're measuring already, even if you don't apply nerdy language to it. You own an HVAC company. Chances are you've looked at sales once or twice. That's a KPI. In fact...let's start there.

Sales - Everybody measures this one. In terms of marketing, sales need to account for the cost of acquiring that customer. How much did you spend in content to attract that customer. In order to accurately track this information, you need to know where they came from. Without a trusted Digital Marketing Partner, you're playing right into our grandfather's old "half your marketing dollars are wasted" strategies and there is clearly a better way. 

Leads - Sales Teams must communicate with the Marketing & Content Teams to know where their leads are coming from. Don't settle for a sales force that simply expects leads to multiply. Sales create ad-budgets and the cycle continues. Make sure that process is communicated or it falls apart quickly.

Profit - How much did you make? If this one needs to be explained, a marketing strategy is the least of your problems. Profit cures everything but sustainable profit comes from precision and strategy. Trending Up Digital Services doesn't do cookie-cutter marketing strategies. We get to know your company and the people within it so that we can aim at higher profits through proven marketing efforts. 

Members - If your site or business requires membership, pay close attention to any volatility in the numbers therein. Whatever direction the arrow is travelling, we want to know why. Capture success and avoid costly mistakes. Are there fake groups out there pretending to be you? Are they gaining members? Think that's something you should pay attention to? The best Marketing Directors catch that stuff in it's infancy and we have those on our team. Do you? Want to? Let's Talk.

Downloads - Does your company offer an e-book or some other kind of download-able information. Track where those downloads are happening and identify any opportunities presented in that data.

Recommendations - Make it easy for your happy customers to refer you. Invest in advocacy at all stages of your business. There is no better form of marketing out there than word-of-mouth advertising from trusted circles. Make sure your marketing team is on top of any platform that gives the public the ability to leave feedback. 

Key Pages - Always direct visitors to key pages within your site. Product pages, Registration Forms, Blogs, etc. Search Engine Optimization is not just about them finding you. It's about where they go and what they do once they're there too.

Retention Metrics - Keep the flock happy! If you've got existing customers, don't allow them to feel that you care more about getting new money than keeping theirs. New business is always the goal, but new sales can often come from existing customers if they feel that they are treated well after the credit card is run. Follow up. Respond quickly. Treat every customer as if they were a loved one. No matter how many times they call. Don't ignore them, or they'll be gone long before you realize it. 

There are a lot of other metrics that go into a successful, long term, marketing strategy but hopefully you have an idea of what goes into making this a component of your business. As we stated, this isn't a "try it on your own" kind of endeavor. You wouldn't fly a plane without a pilot. Trending Up is always ready to be your pilot.

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Deciphering The Metrics - Part Two: Engagement Metrics

 

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In Part One of this Four Part series, we discussed the Basic Metrics. Those were the foundation for your digital marketing strategy. They're critically important because without them, nothing we discuss from this point forward will mean a thing. Essentially, the eight Basic Metrics we discussed previously are the concrete slab below your house. Not pretty...hard to tell what the rest of the house will look like when starting at it, but even a child can understand it's function.

Now it's time to dig deeper. It's time to start building a structure on top of that foundation. Today, we look at the Engagement Metrics. Just like the name suggests, these metrics measure the "engagement" your customers and prospects have with your company during their visit. There are twelve Engagement Metrics to which your attention should be paid. 

Shares - There are numerous ways to measure this component of engagement but no matter how you do it, it's critical. You could measure total shares of all content across all platforms or get down to a micro-level analytics with shares. The content that gets shared is important, but it's just as important to know why it's being shared. How is it being used when received?

Share Ratio - Always good to know if a piece of content is outperforming expectations. For your company, when just starting, this metric may take some time to produce meaningful data, but when it does....live by it! 

Engagement Rate - On Twitter, your company's Engagement Rate is the total number of followers divided by the number of Social Actions taken from your content. (Retweets, Likes, Comments, etc.) Other platforms have similar calculations so it's important to create and publish content that appeals to all sections of your database. 

Premium Shares - Shares with comments and other means of emphasis are always more highly ranked than generic ones like the ones your mom sends you. Post exciting, visually pleasing content that appeals to a very wide range of prospects. 

Comments - This seems like a no-brainer, but it is one of the most often overlooked segments of effective digital marketing. Control your commenting, folks! If you don't have the staff to monitor all of your social platforms for negative comments, then turn off commenting wherever possible. Respond quickly and professionally to all comments. Don't allow emotion to get ahold of your typing fingers while performing this task. Be genuine. Be up front, but no matter what....don't ignore them. Good or bad, keep up with comments. On the flip side....if you're producing and posting a ton of content, but not generating comments at all....something's wrong. Let's get together!

Bounce Rate - Pay attention to how long people stick around once they find you. If you get lot's of "Window Shoppers" then something is not right. If you're getting traffic to your site through SEO or your own, personal prospecting efforts, but they're just seeing your landing page and leaving without engaging....we need to talk. You're not grabbing them. They're not really engaged, they're just being courteous. Courteous doesn't pay the next Quarterly Tax Bill. 

Time on Site - Much like the bounce rate, the Time on Site metric will help you analyze what content is grabbing their attention and keeping them engaged. If one of your "Completed Project" videos is being watched from start to finish and being shared widely....it may be a good idea to post some relative content in the upcoming days. Figure out what draws their attention and GO!!

Completion Rate - Completion Rate measures the percentage of visitors who complete the form to which you are trying to direct their attention. (Or watched the video all the way through....or played the game.....or completed the survey....or voted....you get it, right?)

Clickthrough Rate - All those links you take the time to put into your content....are they worth it? Are people actually clicking on them? If not, why? Is it the positioning? Is it the relevance? You need to get a handle on this one quickly. This metric is the exact reason that our grandfather's old "half your marketing budget is wasted" philosophy is no longer relevant in today's business world. We can measure almost everything we do for our brand with real-time data. 

Amplification Metrics -  Social Amplification will extend the longevity of your content. In other words, boost that thing! If you're paying to "Boost" your posts, you better see how that spend is working, right? 

Influencer Metrics - Who's in your niche market? If you're in HVAC, has any of your content been shared by any manufacturers or trusted experts in the field? Is it being circulated by people who are popular in the circles in which you desire to be popular? Yes...it sounds like digital high-school because that's essentially what Digital Marketing is....you're just trying to get the cool kids to like you.  Guess what....the cool kids think we're cool! Let us help get you past their bouncers and into the inner-circle.

Feedback - If your content is generating feedback, they're engaged. But what kind of feedback are you receiving? Is it negative? Are you just looking at numbers going up and ignoring the fact that you're going viral for embarrassing reasons? Feedback is the pulse of your audience. Keep your finger on it.

Running an HVAC business or a successful Plumbing Company is hard enough without having to devote hours per day measuring metrics that could be handled by a professional marketing partnership. 

We've looked at the Basics.  Now we've discussed the Engagement Metrics. Next up, we'll discuss the Positioning Metrics that make the Engagement Metrics possible. If they can't find you, they can't engage with you so we'll discuss the metrics to make sure your company is on the right trajectory....one that is Trending Up! (See what we did there?)

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Your Customer's Experience

Customer Experience is another of those overused terms thrown around by businesses and owners who have only a conceptual understanding of the subject.

Customer Experience is, at its core, the feeling your customer has at the end of their time with you. In a more academic sense, Customer Experience has become a carefully followed branch of study among the world's most future focused organizations. From a prospect's initial impression of your website to a smooth, easily understood transaction and ultimately retention after the sale...your customer's experience must be considered. Are your forms and invoices easily understood? Does your team represent your culture?

Let's take a look at the components of a successful Customer Experience Strategy. 

1. Sales & Marketing - It's not uncommon for these two departments to operate independently of one another within an organization, but that simply won't fly in the Win-Win Marketing™ world in which we hope to live. Marketing is the idea. The big, beautiful brains full of colors and fonts and beautifully worded metaphors....those guys are the brain of an organization. The Sales Force is the mouth. They're the ones explaining the ideas and hopefully convincing people of their value. If these two departments don't have effective communication and cooperation, a catastrophe will inevitably occur. Salespeople have big egos. Marketing people have big egos that they keep quiet. Find a way to nurture both and your customers will feel very welcomed. A sales team that's screaming the same ideas and messaging that a marketing team spent weeks of time and passion to create is a sign of a well organized company. The kind that will be worth the check your prospect hopefully writes.

2. CRM & Systems - CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is one of the most important systems a company can have. Your investment into your CRM is just as important as the investment into your tools and equipment. Your CRM is where you store your client data. You choose the data and how you use it and that is what will set you apart from your competition if you play it right. Asking a customer for their date of birth is just creepy unless you actually send them a card or something to make them feel special on their birthday. The amount of useful detail that can be cultivated within a robust CRM is unfathomable. If you're not familiar with the options available to you, ask us. We've got the right fit for your business....let's find it together. 

3. Market Research - Know your market. Listen to them and be willing to adapt according to their ever-changing demands. As business owners, it is very easy (trust me) to get so laser-focused on our vision that new information has a tough time getting in. It needs to get in, Our businesses are like trains. Our sales are running alongside us, trying to hop on, but we're travelling too fast and we can't slow down. We're too focused on our destination, Terrible analogy aside, sales are hard to come by. When we we allow ourselves to actually hear the information our market is sharing with is, doors open all over the place, These days, the amount of data available from our clients is astonishing but harvesting it all can be a nightmare. Relax. Trending Up Digital Services can gather real, useful information from your specified market and then develop a strategy 

4. Everything Connected - Get connected. Find ways to unite your team. Proper communication is key in all aspects of a successful business, but especially from a CX perspective.  When your sales team shows up for the initial meeting. their support team should be on standby, waiting to be called if needed. No matter what question the prospect may throw at any member of your team, the answer should be no more than a few clicks away. A well connected team gives comfort to the client getting ready to write a substantial check to you. 

5. Continuous Innovation - Would you be excited to pay a company for services you suspect to be out-of-date? Nobody wants to put trust, money, or time into something they feel is obsolete. The last three years have proven nothing if not for the fact that those who are unwilling to adapt will be starve. Complacency is the new "C" word in the service industry. With so much access to new ideas...new tools and methods...new processes, those who stick to their comfortable ways will be left behind. That being said; the amount of information available to us can be distracting. We can analyze our way into inaction which leads to very weak bottom lines. Know your market. Know your product and be confident. Adapt where necessary, but also be smart enough to know when something is just a shiny toy and when it something that could move your team forward. 

6. Culture & Leadership - A company's culture can be just as much a marketing tool as any cleverly concocted ad or social media post. Culture is not something that can be faked. It has to start with leadership and be spoken every day. The message has to be clear and easily repeated. Chick-Fil-A and Raining Cane's have tremendous cultures. Every employee at Raising Cane's knows the story of their founder raising the money for his first location as a Salmon Fisherman in Alaska. There's a sockeye salmon hanging somewhere in most locations as a nod to this bit of their shared history. Give them something to be proud of. Give them a talking point that they can easily and excitedly repeat in your market. You don't have the benefit of delicious chicken to offer your prospects so your messaging better be as good as your service and your follow-up after the sale. 

Customer Experience requires business owners to place themselves in the shoes, homes, cars, showers, yards, clothes, and budgets of our entire market. Could be a specific group or an entire country, we all have a "market." Let's work together to provide yours with the best customer experience possible. 

Top 5 Reasons Why Digital Marketing is So Important for Your Service Company

 

"Online" used to be such a misunderstood word. It was a scary world where scary things could happen to those who didn't know how to navigate it's various pathways. The mystery of the internet has been revealed over the past few decades, but it doesn't mean it's any less confusing. So, why should you even bother? Why clog your brain with statistics and trends that don't bring dollars to your bottom line?

Well, as the title of this article might suggest....here's Trending Up's Top Five Reasons you should be employing a strong, well crafted, online marketing strategy. 

ONE: Your Customers Are Online

Let's face it....you're here online reading these words just as your prospects are online reading other words on another site. Our mission is to bring the two parties together. But is just being there enough? Can you just throw up a cheap website and expect to land new clients? 

What if you're not looking for new customers or enhanced revenue? What if your desired "prospect" is a qualified employee? Well, guess where that prospect is hanging out on a daily basis....LinkedIn. Effective management of your online presence is the same as maintaining the physical appearance of a brick and mortar site. If you're physical store was in a main thoroughfare where potential business saw you everyday, would you care about it's appearance? You bet you would. 

TWO: Your Competitors Are Online

If your potential clients are online, so are your competitors. The good news is that the internet is a big place and in this Win-Win Marketing™️ world we're creating at Trending Up....there is plenty of food at the table for everyone. We don't need to worry about "beating" your competition. Our job is to make sure that your online presence is as appealing as possible. We put a lot of science and experience into the strategies we deploy. When a potential customer goes looking for your services on the Internet, the only way you can give yourself a fighting chance of landing on their radar is with a proper Digital Marketing Strategy in place. Winging it simply doesn't work in this day and age. Your investment into a marketing strategy with an established agency like Trending Up is going to cost far less than the distress, lost opportunities, and damage to your reputation delivered by a weak strategy. 

Yes....your competitors are online, but you can be a more appealing choice. You can do the things they are not doing to capture more of the vast audience out there. Many of your competitors may look big and intimidating with graphics and logos, but that doesn't mean they're active. Focus on your strategy and use it consistently. That's all you can do.

THREE: Compete Globally

You may not have ever considered a "global" presence for your service company. Most of your clients are local. So are your vendors, employees, and distributors, but that doesn't mean that your online presence should ignore the world outside your existing sphere. Partnerships are made across the planet these days. You don't necessarily have to provide a service for a client to be a source of influence. Your social media posts could serve as inspiration for a young company across the globe....your Customer Appreciation Video could get the attention of a much larger parent company with interests all over your area. Obviously, unless global expansion is on your list of goals for the upcoming future, your focus in this area will not be as intense as the others, but it is important nonetheless. The world is connected. You should be plugged into that connection. 

FOUR: Targeted Acquisition

The days of "wasting half the marketing dollars spent" are over. In generations past, marketing was done with the same concepts as an ad on the side of a bus, or Direct Mail. There was a lot of hope involved in those early strategies. Not today. Today, we can focus our marketing efforts down to a very specific group of people. Global capabilities make the potential audience infinitely bigger, but we still have to aim those efforts somewhere. Got a new service you want to push? Let's say you're a plumbing company and you know you're going to be doing some trench work for a family in a specific neighborhood. Would it hurts for the neighbors to start seeing your logo in their social feeds for a few days prior to work beginning? How about a blog article regarding the benefits of the specific service you happen to be doing for their neighbor? A before / during / after video that eases their minds about the process. You could potentially create months of work for you and your team in one geographic location and it all springs from one job. The possibilities for targeted marketing strategies are endless and somewhat overwhelming. Get a professional involved so you don't damage your reputation, but once you see the benefits, you won't know how your business survived without it.

FIVE: Brand Loyalty / Recognition

Your image is all you've got when it comes to marketing. The reputation of your brand; the future of your team; it all depends upon the effectiveness of your marketing. Like it or not, brand reputations are managed online. Respond in a horrific manner to a customer review...your brand goes viral for all the wrong reasons and that Win-Win Marketing™️ concept is out the window, Manage your online presence correctly, and your brand is a welcomed sight in the browsers of prospects around the world. Strategy. Consistency. Patience. They're all going to be tested and those who stay the course are the ones who reap the benefits. Instant success is a myth. You have to design, deploy, analyze, adjust, and commit to a Digital Marketing Strategy and see it through. Details are key. Get your building blocks in place and then put them everywhere. Building blocks for brand recognition are your logo, your colors, your tagline, and your elevator pitch. (More on each in coming articles!) Get those down and do not change them. 

Humans are visual. We see things and our mind makes connections before we even realize what it is we're seeing. Colors, Logos, taglines....they're all big examples of that. When was the last time you had trouble spotting a McDonalds? Whenever we hear the phrase "just do it" our brain automatically pictures that famous swoosh. Your brand is what makes you attractive or ugly in digital terms. The cruel reality is that few people look at anything ugly next to something beautiful and choose the former. Those who do are only doing so for weird purposes. You know it's true,

Bottom line is that you need a proper strategy for your online presence,. Whether it's a product, a service, an event, or a job posting you want people to hear about...effective design, deployment, and tracking is what makes or breaks your marketing efforts. It's what we do.