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In this blog, I'll talk about a common mistake that entrepreneurs make when they're unfamiliar with marketing. They don't know what type of outcomes they can expect for the money they're spending. And this hampers their ability to make informed decisions about whether they are getting enough marketing conversions.
Knowing the benchmark
It's important to know what kind of results you can expect and when you can expect them, whether you're a marketer or an entrepreneur. You'll constantly be surprised by what you get if you don't know that, and it won't always be pleasant.
Consider this scenario - you've paid ₹1000 on a Facebook ad to collect leads for your free workshop, and you've received 30 leads. But only 2 people show up for the free workshop out of that. Now tell me if this was a successful marketing campaign?
You may be inclined to say no. Some of you who have done this before may not agree. Let’s look at why the answer is ‘No’. This was not a failed campaign. In India, the average cost of a lead is around ₹30. You've got enough leads for the money you paid on your marketing because for ₹1000, you have 30 leads.
Let's assume you're writing them an email in the next stage. According to MailChimp statistics, only 15% of people will open the email now. That suggests that only 4 people out of the 30 leads you emailed actually read the email. Included in this email is information regarding the workshop. If no one else has read it, that means they are unaware of the workshop date and do not have access to the workshop URL.
According to a webinar benchmark, barely half of those who signed up for a workshop will show up. As a result, you only have 2 participants who attended your workshop. So, do you think that marketing campaign was a flop? No.
The reason I told you this scenario was to show you that you should know what your benchmark is. And if you don't, feel free to ask a marketer, "What am I going to get when I spend this much money?"
Optimising your budget
If you're operating your own marketing campaign, you'll have to go through a process to figure out what your results will be.
First of all properly organise your marketing campaign. To do so, you must first define all of the stages that the consumer follow in order to complete the activity that you require.
So, in the last example, when I was discussing the workshop, we know that the first step that the customer needs to take is to fill out a lead form on your Facebook ad. The next step is that they will need to open the email that you have sent them. And the third thing is that they need to click that email to attend your workshop on the right day.
Those are all the steps you need to take for that specific marketing campaign. For each of these steps, you should study conversion rates and cost benchmarks. These are freely available on the Internet. You may come across data that isn't relevant to India, but if you get the ratio correct, you should be able to estimate how many people will really take the action you want them to take. You can also go back and look at previous campaigns to see what your cost per lead was, how many individuals filled out the lead form, and so on. Alternatively,ask your marketer; if your marketer has dealt with a large number of clients, they should be able to assist you.
You now have a better understanding of your conversion rates and cost benchmarks. You may now do a back calculation to discover how much money you'll need to attain the desired result. Clearly, if you wanted more than two people to attend your session, you'll have to pay a lot more money.
Giving up too early
Another related mistake that entrepreneurs make when they don't know what their standard is or what type of results they're getting, is that they may stop a marketing campaign too soon if they don't know what their benchmark is. So, if you run this Facebook ad and just 2 people attended for your ₹1000 workshop, you might never want to try another Facebook campaign. Instead, you should concentrate on each and every step of the road. Is there anything you can do to assist in the conversion of more people?
As an example, if you're sending an email to a specific set of people about a workshop, send it twice. The first email is sent immediately after someone fills up the lead form, and the second email can serve as a reminder a few hours or a day before the workshop, increasing the likelihood of people coming. Or you might offer that if you come to my workshop, you'll give them a discount code, but only if they come to the workshop. Consider what you can do to improve the conversion rate at each stage of your marketing campaign, and perhaps your marketing budget will become a little more manageable.
I hope you enjoyed this insight into your marketing spend and found it useful to determine your marketing conversions. Please let me know if you've made this mistake before and what you learnt from it, and I'd be happy to feature your story on my podcast or social media. I hope to see you again next time.
If you liked this post and would like more tips on other tools, then read more articles like this here or you can listen to the podcast.
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