The importance of evaluating and analyzing your marketing efforts

With stiff competition and unpredictable markets, uncovering marketing opportunities is more critical than ever. The heart of any B2B community is the content being created — and that makes it the ideal jumping off point for evaluating and analyzing your marketing efforts. 

Look at where you’re doing brilliantly and figure out which of your strengths could be further optimized. My approach has always been to look at where you might be leaving money on the table. Specifically, looking for opportunities that might not even be on your radar yet.

I tend to focus on the following areas: 

1. Content.

For B2B marketing, content equals opportunity and if you’re able to contribute valuable content, content that provides help, support, or entertainment rather than just promotional content, you’ll uncover a wealth of possibility. Often in ways you may not have thought of previously.

So it’s vital to evaluate the types of content you’re creating as well as analyzing the strategy driving your content creation.

Our top tip here? Interactive assets get better engagement than traditional lead generation content

2. Conversations.

How is your organization participating in industry specific conversations? Are you participating in a thoughtful way? Are you even present?

If not, you’ll gain a lot from participating in specific B2B communities where you can become an integral part of these forums by answering questions, responding to concerns, and holding conversations. And hey, if these communities don’t yet exist, why not consider developing one?

Either way, this is where you can demonstrate true thought leadership, since you are answering the questions that are top of mind for leading decision-makers. Over time, and with consistency, you’ll build trust, authority and authenticity — three of the most important factors right now for prospects to consider you as a potential vendor.

3. Lead Generation Programs.

Most B2B marketers embrace the traditional programs to garner leads: website optimization, content marketing, email marketing, paid advertising, social media, and account-based marketing, as well as offline strategies like events.

And while these strategies can be effective, keeping up with all of them is a lot, for any organization; it takes a ton of effort, commitment, not to mention a considerable chunk of the budget!

Instead, a more effective approach might be to analyze where you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck. Evaluate which leads are the most valuable for your sales and identify where they’re coming from — that’s where you want to concentrate your efforts and finances.

Ultimately, the key to any good marketing strategy is to evaluate and analyze: figure out where your customers are right now, figure out what’s working for them, and act accordingly. Hang out where they hang out, find out what they want, and make sure you’re able to deliver.

Deceptively simple and oh-so-effective.

Want to evaluate and analyze your marketing opportunities but don’t have the bandwidth?  Contact us today to request a free marketing proposal. 

Erika Etlen