Making It Matter: Best practices for optimizing campaign measurement and performance

Eric Meerschaert

Executive Director, Account Strategy

Eric has a deep background of marketing leadership at Global 500 software companies, and was President of Click Commerce. His strategy roots grow from McKinsey & Co, where he learned that analytics, not instincts, drive the best corporate and market strategies.

PART 3:

3 ways to ensure your offer drives results

In the first two parts of Making It Matter, we’ve talked about aligning your analytics and your creative to drive greater performance in your marketing campaigns. Now, let’s take a look at the underlying message you’re bringing to the marketplace — your offer.

Getting your offer right should be the first step in planning any kind of campaign, but it’s also something you need to revisit along the way because marketplaces are in a constant state of change.

#1

Make sure your value proposition matters to your audience

The bottom line here is: Do they want to buy what you’re selling? Do they need to buy from you? Many times, we see clients who do understand the features and benefits of the products and services they sell, but they don’t really know how their solutions matter in the day-to-day lives of their buyers and influencers. How does your value compare to the other options out there — including making no purchase at all?

Most marketers don’t think enough about the reasons (professional, personal, emotional, etc.) the audience buys or doesn’t buy, and from whom. They haven’t uncovered the key moments in time along the buyer’s journey where the differentiated value they bring can make a difference — which brings us to our second point.

#2

Listen to the market to find the place you can own

Your value in the market can and must go beyond features and capabilities. When we focus on product features and capabilities, we miss the chance to connect to the more personal reasons that motivate purchases and cause a buyer to take the risk of doing more business with you.

Build your understanding of why you matter by listening well to the marketplace. If you haven’t listened to enough customers recently, then ask. Ask why you matter to them. Ask why you matter more than your competitors.

And listen to your competitors. Internal dialogs about why your competitors aren’t as good are dangerous for marketers. Don’t dismiss what competitors say; rather, seek to understand why they’re making the claims they make. Their claims may be hints of what truly matters. Their claims also tell you where they are, enabling you to find the position you can take and uniquely own.

Want to change the success of your offers? Listen first. It’s the best investment you’ll ever make. Is your campaign not delivering the results you expected? Pause. Listen. Find the space you can own that matters most urgently to your customers and prospects.

#3

Set realistic expectations — get your math right

Even when it all comes together — you understand how the distinctive value your solution brings directly solves an important issue for your audience, and you’re getting your message to your audience at those key moments in the buying cycle — you still have to set realistic expectations for your campaign.

The state of your target markets and the urgency of the issues you solve drive market adoption rates and give you the clearest picture of what you can expect. What are the market adoption rates? How does your wallet share compare to your market reach? Are you priced appropriately for the value you promise? Are there pricing opportunities you can leverage?

Get these ratios and assumptions (your math) right, and you maximize your chances of hitting your plan. But if these assumptions are wrong, all the messaging and outreach in the world won’t help you hit the metrics you (and everyone else in your market) are trying to reach.

Dig deep to make it matter

Again, these are all steps that ideally should be performed before launching a marketing campaign. But they’re also critical in evaluating and double-checking as you measure the progress of your campaigns.

Understanding and winning with the distinctive value of your offers is an ongoing endeavor. And StudioNorth has the resources and experience to help you evaluate and refine your value-to-market opportunity, so you drive higher results and win more than your fair share.

Use the quick form below to contact us today if you’d like to learn more about optimizing your offer or see examples of how we’ve helped clients drive greater results. We’ll get right back to you!

Don’t miss our other installments of Making It Matter

Close 3 gaps to boost your campaign performance

In PART 1 of Making It Matter, Senior Director of Digital Marketing Tim Grant discusses three common analytics obstacles that can hinder campaign performance and offers suggestions for optimizing things along the way.

3 ways to optimize your creative for campaign performance

In PART 2 of Making It Matter, VP of Creative and Engagement Shannon Lee will talk about three ways you can evaluate your campaign creative for maximum effectiveness.