As a marketing director, you are responsible for spending your allocated dollars appropriately. How do you demonstrate the appropriateness of marketing campaign spending to a CEO who, at best, is complacent toward marketing or, at worst, cringes at the idea of dropping a marketing dollar?
In an ever-changing digital world, there are consistent ways to measure not only how much you should spend, but the effectiveness of marketing on the company’s bottom line by tracking Key Performance Indicators.
These three KPIs will go a long way in helping you make informed decisions about your newest marketing campaigns, staffing, and your overall marketing budget. Your CEO will thank you for speaking their language.
#1 KPI Cost of Customer Acquisition (COCA)
How much does it cost to make the first sale?
In simple terms, how many new customers are coming in relation to the total money spent each month? Defining customer acquisition cost is one of the most important indicators of success or need. In a revenue-driven world, considering the expense in relation to the customer will allow for fair, accurate, and competitive pricing of goods or services.
When evaluating marketing and sales expenses, be sure to include labor costs associated with the product or service, all advertising dollars spent, distribution fees, and any general overhead like office rental costs.
The Customer Acquisition Costs can be found by adding the total market expenses then dividing the sum by the number of new customers acquired in one month (since most expenses are paid monthly). Your answer will give you a dollar amount which represents for every 1 customer, $X amount is spent.
#2 KPI Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
How much will the customer spend?
The Customer Lifetime Value is your second most important data point because this might be the easiest place to make needed changes.
If your business operates selling goods, you might have a model supporting repeat customers, upsells, cross-sales, or bundling products. If you provide a service, you also want happy clients who want more of the type of service you offer like maintenance, custom part design, or vehicle rentals.
These enduring clients have a lifetime value.
If you offer one-time-only services or products, your client’s lifetime value will be less complicated to figure out. CLV can be found by subtracting the production cost of goods from what the customer pays, multiplying the remaining amount by the frequency of purchases and multiplying the product by the typical length of time a customer stays with the company. The result will show, on average, how much money one client spends on goods or services once they become a customer.
#3 KPI Conversion Rate
How often are you turning digital impressions into sales?
Marketing conversion rates can come from as many places as the company has digital platforms. For example, your company could have a social media presence, a website, or other digital platforms and subscriptions supporting your online presence.
Giving a critical eye to each area can show you which platforms are high performing and which either need attention or simply eliminated (NOTE: Your website is an essential part of your marketing platform. If it is not performing, it needs attention not elimination).
How to use this data
Tracking these KPIs month to month while evolving your marketing strategy will indicate the effectiveness of your efforts and where you can improve. Bring your data to board meetings to demonstrate your success and inform decisions concerning brand effectiveness, budget, and staffing. Your CEO will be thankful they have such a competent and proactive marketing director at the reigns driving new customers to their product or service.
For additional information about the importance of establishing marketing KPIs, read our blog titled, Why KPI Performance Tracking is Crucial for Growth Marketing.
