Digital Marketing ROI? Really?
Most people think of digital marketing as just installing a generic DIY template they find anywhere online for free, and then miraculously they start getting more phone calls and emails from new customers and their sales skyrocket toward Mars.
Of course, that’s not true, but nonetheless, ask a business owner or entrepreneur what their digital marketing ROI is and you’ll most likely garner some blank stares or wildly unrealistic expectations founded in something they heard at a coffee shop or bar.
ROI in actuality is simply the Returns On Investment you, the business owner or entrepreneur or NonProfit Organization founder, make from investing in any effort.
So ROI can be measured in emotional returns; such as caring for another human being who simply doesn’t return empathy toward you.
ROI could be measured in time you spend on a specific task (such as writing a blog post), against the perceived “returns” of others reading and benefiting it, maybe expected returns in improved SEO. It could be meausred in how many views I have a specific page or blog post, or a paid offering such as a consultation or download.
ROI can run the gamut of options of what you, the business owner, would expect back in return for investing time, energy, or financially, into an effort.
Since digital marketing is so often seen as something a business owner doesn’t need, or could be seen as something they could possibly take up as a side hobby or outsource minimally with minimal thought or planning, ROI is often not even seen as relevant to digtial marketing by new business owners unfamiliar with digital marketing concepts.
The full picture completed is that without ROI, a business owner has no way of knowing if what they may have planned is working or not. ROI charts the course for a journey ahead.
Measuring Digital Marketing ROI
When we discuss ROI pertaining specifically digtial marketing, in most cases we want to measure:
- Website visits overall
- Then we want to narrow that down to specific time spent (and from what sources) on certain website pages and / or blog posts
- Then we want to know what, if any, actions are taken by visitors. For example, do they read a blog post or page thoroughly (meaning do they stay on that page or post for more than a few seconds). Do they subscribe, make a purchase, schedule a consultation, submit the contact form? What is their subsequent action taken?
- Some business owners and bloggers want massive newsletter subscribes, where they have thousands of people subscribed to their blog. Who cares? Well, this would translate or could translate to more people to send special offers, discounts, free downloads, new course content, or other information to on a regular basis and could feed into page and post visits.
- Next is money. Are any sales generated from website pages or blog posts that you can directly tie to visits or actions taken? There are tools that procedures that can directly inform and reveal this.
Factors Impacting ROI
Some factors that could potentially impact digital marketing ROI can be increased sales. Increased sales can be a result of increased ROI and a direct factor impacting its continued use. For example, I’ve known many amateur business owners (what Mark Cuban called “wantrepreneurs”), who simply refused to renew a website hosting plan annually so everything was immediately gone forever in the blink of an eye. Their sales that may have increased as a result of a professional online presence, great Search Engine Results Pages (SERP for short) ranking, their eCommerce, all gone up in smoke within seconds. Increased sales since your site has gone live, is a pretty doggone good indicator that your digital marketing ROI is strong.
Another result is reduced overhead. If your site is using automated processes such as bookkeeping (automated receipts), eCommerce to allow online payments of bills or for servies or items or downoads, that can dramatically result in more time to spend actually running the business and meeting investors or growing it rather than forever tinkering.
Lead conversion is another factor from increased ROI where you enjoy more leads coming in on a regular basis.
Another benefit of increased ROI is very simply an expansion into new markets. Examples of this could be a new ability to bid on government contracts. Most government contractor databases require a modern, mobile-friendly, professional-looking, working website that can be found in Google search results for that type of vendor. This requirement leaves most business owners in the dust. And for most business owners being awarded a government contract can be a true game-changer.
Discussing Digital Marketing ROI Further
In this episode of my podcast, I interview Len Ward, where we dig into, you guessed it, digital marketing ROI.
Len began his entrepreneurial journey in 2004 when he left behind a successful career in finance with Credit Suisse to take on a partnership role in an e-commerce startup.
Through that experience, Len realized that he was more interested in marketing products than in selling them. He took this newfound passion for marketing and turned it into RankMeSEO, an online marketing agency.
Today, Len has channeled his passion for investing and marketing into Commexis a marketing consulting firm specializing in financial auditing, investment allocation, and reporting of digital marketing campaigns. Commexis has worked with brands like the University of Pennsylvania, Johnson & Johnson, American Water, ESF Camps, Exceptional Foods, Analysis Prime, and Thyroid Virtual Clinic.
Some of Our Key Talking Points
Questions I posed to Len include (but aren’t limited to):
- Why did you pivot from digital marketing to marketing ROI reporting?
- What is the financial impact digital marketing platforms like Facebook and Google have on businesses who are looking to move into digital marketing or expand their campaign?
- What is the number one reason why companies either guess at their ROI or do not know their ROI
- What are the three reasons marketing campaigns fail?
- How can ROI be calculated?
According to Len, There Are Three Key Takeaways Listeners Need To Know
- You cannot out optimize a bad spend
- Conversions happen in an ecosystem
- You cannot have an ROI without a CAC (customer acquisition cost)
You can enjoy a video and audio version of our discussion posted below. If you enjoyed either version, don’t forget to like it and share it with others.
Our Video Interview
Any problems watching my video interview on YouTube? Dont’ sweat! You can also catch it on BitChute.