We’re going to jump right in to this one – if you’re a little lost, I recommend starting here. (<–last months blog on PMC)
Now that I’ve identified what KPIs are, and the basics, we’re going to break it down a bit more so you understand what I’m tracking as a print marketer, and why. We’ll use our Local Campaign as the example.
The overall goal of the campaign is to increase awareness of our business in our local area and generate new business. We’re using a mixed media approach that includes print, digital, brand ambassadors, and community involvement.
These 4 things are what I consider “channels” (you’ll see what I mean in a minute):
Conversions: (number of specific desired actions taken)
Print – a conversion from our print would either result in a phone call to a specific for marketing phone number, or a PURL (personalized URL) we’ve identified for our marketing efforts. We also have created a hashtag that is being used on social media channels that are specific to these efforts.
Digital – a conversion here would result in a visit to a specific page, use of a hashtag, or interaction on some level on one of 6 social media channels we’re active on.
Brand Ambassadors – a conversion from a brand ambassador would mention a specific code that is given to the new lead from the ambassador, a call to a certain phone number or again, a personal hashtag or url.
Community Involvement – this is the one area where we have not set specific goals for conversions, as creating a sale/client isn’t the main goal of this channel. This channel is about awareness.
Let’s be clear on this though: The ultimate goal of a conversion is to result in a bid request or job, so you can’t just point them to your site and call it good. You have to give them a reason to want more, to talk to you. If you’re just putting them someplace and hoping that the information there is enough, you’re missing a giant part of this. It’s about more than a call-to-action though – you need to provide valuable information and a connection with you that inspires that action.
In sales, you might look at phone calls, emails, drop-by’s, etc as your channels to measure in place of the ones above. Ask what prompted the call, the email, etc. Where did it all start? Note that in your CRM.
Units per Sale: (number of leads generated by each channel of the campaign)
This one is pretty self-explanatory. We use our CRM to track this along with online metrics. During any specific campaign period we run reports weekly and make changes so that we can have a better chance of achieving our goals.
For sales, you could measure this by the variations of products ordered, quantities, things that show upselling.
Dollars per Sale: (cost paid per conversion broken down by channel and then overall cost)
First, take each channels total cost and divide by conversion; and then, combine all of the channels that were included in a specific campaign and divide by conversion. The goal is to have the lowest spend possible. What’s the goal here? Well, honestly that depends on your company’s individual approaches.
In sales, this one can be very literal. How much is the average sale per client, and is there a growth happening over time?
Retention: (percent of current client base responding to campaign)
Most printers understand that retaining and growing the spend of their current clients is imperative to staying in business. If you’re like many in the industry, your shop is “carried” by a few great clients that consistently spend, and boosted by a few “fill-in” buyers throughout the year.
We have a great base of local clients and we want to make sure that our campaign didn’t leave them out.
There are a few ways to do this, one of the most obvious being to add them as a branch of the brand ambassador channel. If you create a way to reward them for new orders, new referrals, and their annual spends, you can guarantee not only retention, but increasing revenue from them year upon year. The goal here is to make the benefit to them irresistible. Credit towards orders, discounts off of purchases, even “new client” discounts and goodies they can hand out when they refer someone to you.
Of course you can choose to reach them through the other channels as well, and then track them using your CRM system. One of the ways to do this that is simple is by asking them what made them call you today. Make sure to record that in your CRM so that you can run a report on it later and see how effective your campaign was for client retention growth.
In Sales, retention can be tracked by increase of sales, repeat orders, referrals from clients and more.
To Recap
These KPIs let me know if what I’m doing is working. They tell me how much I’m spending and whether it’s a good return on the investment I’ve made. They tell me if my message is reaching my target clients, and if I’m relevant to what interests them.
I can use similar KPIs in analyzing sales staff and how effective they are at reaching out to new leads, nurturing them, and converting them into actual jobs. Once you get the basics, they’re pretty easy to translate to whatever you want to track the performance of.
Are you tracking these KPIs in any way at this point? What other things do you watch?
Kate Gansneder started her career in marketing and business management in 1998. Her experience comes from both the retail and the creative side, where she brings a unique perspective for the print business. In her off time she drinks far too much coffee, spends time with her husband and kids, travels, and consults on business and marketing for creative. You can connect with her all over the web at her AboutMe profile.
