According to Forrester, half of B2B marketing execs struggle to attribute revenue directly to marketing activity. In other words, a shocking 50% of marketers can’t prove their value. Unfortunately for them, the days of “spray and pray” marketing are behind us. In 2016, it’s all about the ROI, and it’s high time for all B2B marketers to excel at reporting. (Pun absolutely intended.)
“There is so much data you can report on,” acknowledges Isaac Payne, Senior Marketing Analyst at Pardot. “It’s very easy to get overwhelmed.”
But Isaac has your back. On Thursday, January 21st at 1PM EST, he’ll share his favorite tips for reporting on your marketing programs in our Rev Up Your Reporting webinar.
If you simply can’t wait until then to get started with your New Year’s reporting resolutions, get started with these 3 reporting tips that will help you become a stronger marketer in 2016.
1. Analyze your landing pages and forms.
Take some time to compare the conversion rates for all of your landing pages and forms. What do the forms with the highest conversion rates have in common? How about the ones with the lowest conversion rates?
Pay attention to differences in the number of form fields, the wording of the calls-to-action, the page layouts, and the graphics. Use what you learn from the top-ranking pages to improve the ones that aren’t performing as well, and then use A/B testing to determine whether the new versions are more effective. Use the results of those tests to tweak the landing pages further, and continue testing and improving until your conversion rates are where you want them. (Which, let’s be honest, is 100% — and even Isaac would admit that might take a while.)
2. Determine the percentage of customers sourced by marketing.
This metric is crucial because it shows what percentage of new business was directly sourced by a marketing campaign. Not only will this prove your marketing team’s value, it can also give you insight into where you need to improve. Ask yourself, who are these customers? And perhaps more importantly, who aren’t they — and how can you reach the remaining percentage in the future?
3. Maximize your paid search dollars.
Dive into your search marketing reports to see which keywords are performing well and which aren’t. Chances are you’re spending your advertising dollars inefficiently, but it’s surprisingly easy to fix that. Simply reallocate some of the funds from the ineffective ads to the top-performing ones to get more bang for your marketing buck.
Want to learn more ways to improve your reporting and get the highest return from your marketing investment? Register now for the January 21st webinar by clicking the banner below. See you then, and happy reporting!
