Part six: Measuring for success

At this point, you have a clear direction and brand identity, you’ve mastered the art of telling your story and have chosen your content types and online channels. You may be thinking that your journey is complete, but a very important and all-too-often step of any successful strategy is the analysis and evaluation.

Afterall, how can you determine the effectiveness of a strategy if you don’t measure your results? It’s time to decide how you will go about tracking your progress. As any mentor or experienced business person will tell you, analysing data is as integral as defining goals. The data you collect provides a serious competitive advantage. You’ll have data to determine which online channels and content types are effective in reaching and converting customers.

The way you evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategy or campaign will depend on which online channel you use. For example - Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms have engagement metrics that make it very easy to track success. Similarly, email marketing platforms can help you see how many people open your emails and how many people click through to your website from there. If you’re unsure how to analyse or interpret the data, a mentor can help you get on the right track.

It’s also helpful to collect customer feedback in a more direct way. Humans love the opportunity to be heard, and asking for feedback will show your customers that you care about their experience. Consider how you will go about collecting customer feedback. Will it be through a follow-up email, phone call, online survey?

By tracking results and allowing consistent feedback, your business is on the fast track to identifying where improvements can be made with your products/services, trends in sales, and potential gaps in the market.

Revisit your objectives in part two and use the metrics identified to determine the best way to monitor and track your progress.