How to Measure Marketing ROI

Well 2014 is finally here and it’s time to see just how well you did by measuring your marketing ROI (return on investment, that is).

You’ve likely already put together a list of resolutions you want to follow through on in the New Year. Maybe you’re looking to shed those extra pounds you put on during the holidays, spend more time with family or make 2014 your company’s best year yet.

On that note, I’ve been rethinking some aspects of my own business to keep things manageable as it continues to grow. I’m making a few changes so I can better meet your needs and help more people. We’ll talk more about that in the coming weeks.

Back to your resolutions … . If you’re planning to grow your business in 2014, I want you to take a minute to think about HOW you plan to get more leads, more money and grow your business. Maybe you’re thinking of ways to better manage your time and cut expenses.

But if you really want to take your business to the next level, you’ll need to put together a list of marketing-related resolutions.

The key to growing your business is reaching the right people. I’ll keep going back to this because it’s really important to note that everyone is NOT the right fit for your products and services.

Measuring Marketing ROI

Determining the ROI of your marketing efforts can be complex.  Today, I’m going to give you a way to get a snapshot of your ROI, which will help you plan for greatness in 2014.

1. Start a new Excel spreadsheet.

2. Create four columns and label them:

• Leads (List the number of leads – email subscribers, phone calls or some level of interest you got from each marketing tactic.)
• Sales/Revenue (Insert the number of sales/the amount of revenue you received from each marketing tactic.)
• Expenses (List the amount of money you paid (if any) to place the ad, run Facebook ads, and so on.)
• ROI (Subtract the “Expense” column from the “Sales/Revenue” column to show the value of your efforts.)

Your Results

How did you do? Don’t worry if you didn’t have enough data to complete each of the suggested columns, just fill in what you can. Measuring the ROI of your marketing programs can be extremely complex, so we’re taking baby steps here. Tracking your marketing results in a critical step in planning for success in 2014.

If you didn’t do very much marketing last year, click here to check out some marketing trends. For example, more than half of all marketers found new customers on Facebook in 2013 … wow! Data such as this can give you some ideas on how to spend your own marketing dollars.