All businesses benefit from content marketing. It doesn’t matter what industry or sector your business is in, or how well you’re already performing. By committing to a content marketing strategy, you’re sure to boost traffic and therefore sales. Regular content is the best way to stay on top with the ever-changing demands of algorithms and SEO best practices. It keeps your website regularly updated, feeds content into your social channels, and shows your audience and potential customers that you’re on top of your game. Here, we’ll explore why you need content marketing for your business.

1. Content marketing helps consumers understand your brand

Whatever industry you’re in, it’s unlikely that your brand has no competition. And one way to set yourself apart from that competition is with excellent content marketing. One of the reasons content marketing is a strong tactic for brands competing against other, similar businesses is that it helps to establish trust and build your brand identity.

Through your blogs, social media, and other content marketing channels you can establish exactly who your brand is and what it stands for. And once customers have an idea of what this is and how it aligns with their needs and values, you’ll be the first business they turn to when they need your product or service. After all, very few people take a chance on new brands without understanding who they are and how reliable they are. With your content marketing, you can make this known before people are even at the point of purchasing.

2. Consistent content marketing gives your brand credibility

One thing has always been true in business: customers don’t want to buy from a brand they don’t trust. For as long as businesses have been selling goods and services, they’ve been striving to develop trust between their brand and their audience. Now, in a world where customers look to review websites before buying, it’s more important than ever to build a brand with a strong reputation.

One way to do this is through content marketing. Quality content that’s relevant to what you do and highlights your expertise is a simple way to build trust with your audience and any potential customers who might be researching brands in your industry before making a purchase. The more quality content you have out there, the more likely customers are to believe in your credibility.

3. Relevant content brings people back to your website

Without going too deep into the inner workings of algorithms, it’s important to understand the value of creating content that works in your favour. Basically, the more often you update your website with new content, the more likely it is to rank well in search engine results because their algorithms will understand that your site is active and up to date. Content marketing is also a good chance to incorporate some SEO keywords relevant to your industry and the kinds of things your audience will be searching, which in turn will make it easier for them to find you.

The point of all this? Website traffic. The more someone visits your website, the more likely they are to eventually make a purchase. It keeps your brand front of mind, and will be the place they turn for authoritative content on a subject they’re interested in. And returning traffic results in lead generation.

4. Digital content generates leads

Generating leads from digital content is similar to our point above about making people return to your website again and again. In fact, all these points are intrinsically linked. Since the more they come to your website the more they understand your brand’s identity and establish trust in what you do and your expertise.

Generating leads is essentially the main reason you’d do any kind of marketing. You want to attract customers and for them to make a purchase from you. By attracting those customers through content marketing you are able to build a rapport with them before they even buy from you. They’ll develop an understanding of who you are, and will be more likely to consider you a trusted source when they do come to purchase. This results in more quality sales and leads, rather than those who buy from you without knowing anything about you and might then be unhappy with the service or product. Good content marketing places itself in front of a potential customer when they’re actively looking for what you do, meaning it’s a quick sale from someone who already knows that they need you.

5. Content performance is easy to track

Bending and shaping content to fit the ever-evolving demands of SEO and algorithms can seem like a pain. But one of the benefits is that it makes tracking and analysing the results of your content marketing easier than ever. 97% of consumers use the major search engines to research and find goods and services, so if you’re not appealing to their algorithms, you’re missing out.

Organic search will show you how many people find your content and your website via a direct keyword search. These keywords will help you to angle your content towards the kinds of things you know your customers are searching for.

You can also analyse the content that performs best, where the traffic comes from, and how long they spend looking at your content. All of this can inform your content marketing strategy – after all, it’s not set in stone. You should be prepared to mould your strategy to the results of your analytics.

Still feeling confused about how to build a successful content marketing strategy for your business, or why you need one? Get in touch with OggaDoon. Our team of content marketing experts know everything there is to know about creating and running a top content campaign, so you don’t need to think about it.

B Corp Month (in the year we became a B Corp)

Last month was B Corp month — a time to appreciate what it means to be a B Corp. The B Corporation is a global movement of businesses rethinking what it means to be successful, focusing on regenerative, inclusive, and equitable practices that benefit everybody, not just the people at the top.

B Corp businesses not only listen to the demands of the climate crisis — they’re often leading the way. It’s a huge psychological shift taking place in the business sphere, happening across continents. There’s now over 4,600 B Corps in 78 countries around the world, covering 155 industries. We’re chuffed by how far this movement has grown. Tusko is also growing, and we’d like purpose driven creatives to join us.

We built our agency on the idea that private enterprises have a vital role to play when it comes to climate change, social injustice, and every unbalanced axis that tilts our world away from what’s good for all.

We’ve always wanted to be a part of the wave making a positive difference in the world. Because with the pressures of climate change just getting more intense by the year, we can’t just carry on with business as usual.

Not when the IPCC is warning about the catastrophic effects we will see in our lifetime. Or when freak weather events are starting to make the lives of people around the world more hazardous and uncertain.

With the comprehensive, measurable framework outlined by B Corp practices and value systems — businesses like ours have a defined, guided pathway to becoming a part of the solutions the world needs.

The road to B Corp

In our increasingly socially conscious economic sphere, being B Corp verified is a huge credibility boost for any business. As you may have heard from other companies on their B Corp journey, it’s no small undertaking!

But then again, it shouldn’t be simple.

Our entire economic world is built on a model that has directly resulted in the catastrophic environmental effects we’re beginning to witness all around us, and will have to adapt to over the coming years. So for businesses to become a part of the change we need to see, they need to be solidly accountable for doing things in a better way.

Luckily, it is completely possible to balance profit, and purpose. And as Mark Carney warns, can businesses afford not to adapt, and create those urgently needed solutions?

The journey to B Corp certification has given us an incredible framework to grow with, and we’ve had to ask occasionally awkward questions of our suppliers and our customers.

Our practices as an agency now include…

  1. asking if our associates have a ‘Code of Ethics’ in their business.

  2. enquiring if they have relationships with ‘Sin industries’): Tobacco, Alcohol, Gambiling, Weapons, Pornography, Unfair Trade Practices, Fossil Fuels, Diamonds and precious gems, fast fashion, Pharmaceuticals, and businesses with their workforce in 3rd world countries.

  3. asking if they would be happy to fill in our ‘Sustainability Survey’, to assess performance in this area.

But while we’ve had to make some hard decisions as a result of shifting our business to align with our ethics, we’ve also attracted some exceptional clients along the way too.

We’ve been working closely with a Bristol-based law firm NRG to create their new digital identity, and support an exciting rebrand project. They’re also on the journey to B Corp certification, and as we understand it one of the main reasons NRG wanted to work with us was because we are B Corp certified.

It’s highly rewarding to be able to work together with businesses from other sectors towards a common, essential goal.

 

Inspired by brands who came before us

We’ve been motivated to begin our B Corp journey by businesses who are already transforming our economy by transforming themselves.

We look to brands like Patagonia, a north star for sustainability in big business for many. They make the coolest outdoor gear, and they’re also a beacon for major corporation ethics, and contributions to sustainability.

Tony’s Chocolate have been making waves too — you might have seen their colourful campaigns against slavery in chocolate production.

We’re constantly inspired by the Future Leap Hub – associates of ours in Bristol running a co-working space that’s “one of the few sustainable and environmental co-working spaces in the South-West”.

And we’re also big fans of Chilly’s, a reusable water bottle with a mission to “accelerate the adoption and everyday use of reusable products”. We bought everyone in the Tusko team a Chilly’s bottle to keep us all hydrated with less single use plastic.


It’s clear that governments, NGOs, and charities can’t do it all when it comes to cleaning up our world. Private companies need to step up. The profits we’re making could be driving the sustainable reinvention of our economies, and the way we live. And with effective, global initiatives like B Corp, we now have a template we can follow to do that.

If you’d like more guidance on how to shop sustainably as an individual, we highly recommend The Ethical Consumer for advice that helps you spend money with companies with strong principles.

We’re looking for creatives to join our organisation. If you’re interested, please email [email protected], telling a little bit about yourself.

At a Bristol Creative Industries virtual event recently, following an excellent Andy Hawkins presentation, Nick Dean and I shared our positive experiences of the B Corp process & why we think any organisation should give it serious consideration.

I’ve been asked a few more questions about the “business case” for B Corp following the event, so thought I’d cobble my thoughts together…

(more…)

At Varn we have had so many questions and queries related to the importance of using video as a marketing tool from our clients, we thought it would be useful to share some of the latest thinking on why video is so vital in 2022 and the powerful role video can play to optimise your SEO efforts.

We have brought in the experts from Bristol-based video agency Life Media UK to explain why video is such a key player in your marketing mix (and not just for SEO either!)…

At Life Media UK, we understand that with a strong video strategy and a high level of execution, video can achieve incredible results. The potential for video to connect you with your ideal client becomes even more powerful when you optimise it with the SEO tactics that Varn will explain to you shortly… but first…

Here’s why video is your best bet when it comes to marketing in 2022.

Fortunately for us and our clients, video shows no sign of slowing down; the average consumer now watches 19 hours of online video per week, with YouTube reaching more viewers than any TV channel on the planet. All of these video-hungry eyeballs gives you, as a business, the perfect opportunity to reach people exactly where their focus is.

While we’d all love to give each of our potential customers a face-to-face sales pitch, it’s not always possible; but video can be the next best thing. Communicating with every single one of your prospective buyers on-demand, answering their questions, delivering compelling social proof and engaging product demos can only be done through the power of a great video.

88% of people would like to see more videos from brands in 2022.  Simply put, you should be marketing with video because that’s exactly how your customers want (and expect) to be marketed to.

How can video marketing drive sales?

The real value of video comes from its ability to drive sales like nothing else. We’ll let Varn explain the SEO value in a second, but in addition to turbo-charging your organic traffic, video can also boost sales from your paid campaigns by as much as 100%!

Once you’ve got users to your site, embedded video content can also increase sales by up to 144%, making conversions easier and campaigns more impactful.

Social media was built for video, and it’s now the most popular form of content by a country mile. Engagement with videos on Facebook is almost double that of text or image-based posts, and 1 in 4 Instagram users have made a purchase after seeing an Instagram story.

It’s not just your website and social media that feel the benefit of video marketing – 71% of sales professionals confirm that video emails outperforms text-based emails, as video gets your message across in a quick, succinct and engaging way.

We know how important return on investment is. With 87% of marketers who use video seeing a positive ROI, video is becoming one of the most reliable forms of marketing around, as well as the most impactful.

Varn explain how video can help your SEO

We know that 75% of searchers don’t scroll past page 1 of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) so making sure you are up there in the rankings, on page 1  is really important. Without a doubt, creating video for your website can dramatically improve your ranking results on Google and positively affect your SEO efforts. We know that the search engines love video and that’s because people searching love video and are increasingly consuming more and more video.

Creating video is a fantastic tool to target keywords in the search engines. With an engaging video it is likely that people will spend more time on your website and this can increase something we call ‘dwell time’.  According to Search Engine Journal dwell time is defined as

“the length of time a person spends looking at a webpage after they’ve clicked a link on a SERP page, but before clicking back to the SERP results.”

We know that increased dwell time will mean the Google bots will identify your video as valuable content and this means better rankings for your website.

There is some interesting data on the value of video from Wordstream and here are a few stand out stats for us:

  1. Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from SERPs.
  2. Video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more.
  3. The average conversion rate for websites using video is 4.8%, compared to 2.9% for those that don’t use video.
  4. Having a video on a landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on page 1 of the SERP.

So with Video having such a powerful impact in a search, here are some top tips from Varn to make sure your video can rank better:

If you have any questions about the power of video for SEO do contact the specialist search marketing team at Varn.

In 2020, Google announced the launch of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). And, this month, the news that has shaken the marketing world is Google’s decision to set a concrete deadline for the departure of Universal Analytics.

What are the Important Dates?   

On the 1st July 2023, Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits. GA360 will stop this process on the 1st October 

On top of this, Google also revealed that you will only be able to access your existing Universal Analytics data for around 6 months after the 1st July 2023 (date TBC). 

Why has Google made This Decision?  

There are obvious differences between GA4 and Universal Analytics.   

Universal Analytics was created to work on sessions and websites, whereas GA4 was built to work on your websites and apps. It also doesn’t rely on cookies and works using an event-based model, which delivers customer-centric measurements.   

A shortcoming that has been well documented with Universal Analytics is that its session focuses on reports based on what a user does in a single session. It doesn’t focus on multiple touchpoints.

Google decided it was time to come up with a better solution.   

Privacy-First Future

GA4 is more privacy-led than its predecessor – it does not store user IP addresses.   

This factor is particularly important today, as the digital marketing landscape becomes more privacy-focused, GA needs to evolve to meet the needs of its users.   

So far, uptake on GA4 has been slow because it has a different interface and data collection model. People don’t like change.

And though a great proportion of our clients have set up a new GA4 property, a number of these clients were not using it and certainly not maximising its potential.   

What You Should Do

Don’t panic! There is still time to set up your GA4 property before this deadline.   

The main thing you need to focus on is your historical Universal Analytics reports, as these will not be accessible around six months after the 1st of July.   

So, to get the most comparative data between GA4 and Universal Analytics, you need to have everything set up and running properly by the end of 2022.  

In Conclusion  

It’s important to remember that you still have ample time to set up GA4 and get to grips with this platform… But the deadline has been set so now is the perfect time to start familiarizing yourself with how it works.   

Having GA4 properties is a good starting point, but you need to go beyond this and add the base tag and enhanced measurement for it to be of any benefit.   

Keep the end of 2022 as your deadline, and by then, you need to have your GA4 account up and running and track your website elements and KPIs correctly.  

To help you out, Google has created its own migration guide, which includes links to articles to help make your migration process from Universal Analytics to GA4 as easy as possible.  

AgencyUK have announced the launch of the latest NHS public campaign which is designed to encourage people to call ‘111’ rather than ‘999’ when they have non- emergency minor conditions.

The campaign activity is aimed at high risk groups in deprived areas, those with poorer access to GP care, or people with small children, young adults or older youth, who live close to emergency departments or far from urgent care centers and without easy access to transport.

Although national awareness of the existing ‘111 help us help you’ campaign is high (of those surveyed, 98% were aware and 72% had used 111) there is still a requirement to continue encouraging consumer behaviour to change, particularly in these deprived areas.

The figures in Bristol (61% used) and 80% in North Somerset and South Gloucester is lower. NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucester CCG (BNSSG) also have targets to increase these numbers by a further 10%.

Taking a more direct, harder hitting approach is unlikely to work, and this was demonstrated following a programme of qualitative research conducted with people in these target audience groups. The agency and NHS team have developed a proposition and creative campaign that is clear and simple, showing the benefits of dialing 111 through illustrations.

“The campaign is simple in encouraging people to use 111 by showing how the service provides immediate advice and guidance for those who need help right away. The graphics can be easily understood and have been brought to life in the digital and outdoor elements created by AgencyUK.” says Dominic Moody, head of communications at NHS.

The integrated campaign leverages social media as well as traditional (OOH) and digital out of home (DOOH) formats such as buses, posters and interactive display screens.

Sammy Mansourpour, managing director, AgencyUK says “Working with the NHS is always a privilege, and as a leading brand communications agency our team have always felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility when it comes to helping improve our national services. We’ve been pleased with the media selection and KPI’s being applied to this campaign and look forward to seeing the impact it will make. The message is clear. Think 111 first.”

AgencyUK are an independent brand communications agency. The company has demonstrated significant growth over the past 12-months, contributed by the rapid expansion of their life science and healthcare portfolio. NHS is the latest major account win for the agency in the past 12-months.

It’s hard to think of a brand subject to as much controversy as BrewDog lately. A recent BBC documentary brought a fresh raft of accusations against the company – off the back of which, it has emerged, boss James Watt hired private investigators to scrutinize former employees. Here, AgencyUK’s Sammy Mansourpour digs into what brands can learn – good and bad – from BrewDog’s stratospheric rise and tumultuous second phase.

There’s only one thing that makes a brand brilliant and that is meaningful difference – meeting consumers’ needs while successfully standing out from the crowd.

Kantar and Millward Brown have been testing this out for over a decade and the numbers are in. Brands with a quantifiable meaningful difference can grow 207% faster than the rest.

Never has this been so brilliantly showcased than by BrewDog, the punk beer brand imploding in front of our eyes. But let’s look beyond James Watt, the sometimes-ridiculed book he wrote and all the reasons why BrewDog is in such a pickle. Let’s look first at what made BrewDog so brilliant.

A punk community

No one can say building BrewDog was just blind luck. Look at BrewDog’s ability to define itself precisely, then talk about it. The core of its image is ‘punk’. You might think building out an anti-establishment vision based on troublemaking would be easy, but the alcoholic drinks market is highly regulated and getting a foot in the door is expensive. To dodge those rules you need to know them – particularly the ones you intend to break.

To build an establishment-challenging brand, you need mass and movement. BrewDog delivered both in spades. It quickly grew a following into a sizable community.

BrewDog seized on every challenge it faced, using them to talk about how industry titans (and regulators) leveraged legislation, introduced red tape and increased cost. This messaging made the small but growing BrewDog community feel duped and enraged. This galvanized them around the BrewDog brand and started to distance them from other beers.

Who pays for the revolution?

With social media in hand, Watt (and co-founder Martin Dickie) were able to start a revolution, then get their revolutionaries to pay for it. Their crowdfunding investment gathered millions before private equity got involved and these investors are the same folks buying the beer.

If you read Watt’s book, you’d believe this would never end. But for anyone with a grasp of social media and a flair for stunts, this is where the lesson begins.

Truth and reconciliation

Harry McCann famously said that advertising is “truth well told”. But did BrewDog always stick to the truth? Some of its social media marketing has been called out as false or misleading. The promotions team pledged to plant trees for every investor and drinker of Planet Pale Ale. The land they bought reportedly remains empty and an application by BrewDog for a Scottish grant to pay for the trees has now been made public.

And with all the attacks on beer brands and the need to fight the good fight – even blowing up cans of rival products on Facebook Live – it turns out Watt invested in Heineken.

Oh, and did anyone mention the reported non-disclosure of banned additives present in BrewDog beer that may have rendered some shipments illegally imported into the US?

Can punks make a meaningful difference?

Through all of BrewDog’s punk rule-breaking, no one asked why the rules and regulations existed until they came crashing down around them. If they did, the media gave them little airtime.

No one seemed to adequately explain the reasons behind regulating a market and constraining companies from acting so freely. BrewDog stuck with its belief that the consequences were always minor when compared to the commercial advantages of a breach – until it was no longer possible to keep telling that story.

Building a brand that is meaningfully different is the key to success and that success can only be realized for the long term if you’re not lying about it. So perhaps authenticity is what makes a brand brilliant. But who wants an authentic brand that nobody wants?

Sammy Mansourpour is co-founder and managing director of AgencyUK.

Please note: Since publication this crowdfund has closed. £988,776 was raised in 28 days with Yuup reaching 131% of its desired fundraising target.

Yuup, the Bristol-based online local experiences marketplace, has been offering the city’s creative community a platform to generate income through hosting experiences since it was founded in September 2020.

In just a year company has grown from supporting just under 40 experience hosts to now being a community with over 270 people and small businesses and 500+ experiences to enjoy throughout Bristol city.

On Yuup’s platform you will find anything from unicycle lessons to rum tasting, wild winter swimming to hot air balloon rides, and pottery making to fresh pasta making masterclasses. Each one of these unique experiences is hosted by a local person that can’t wait to share their skills and passion with new people.

The platform has seen side-hustlers and hobbyists turn their favourite thing to do into a business and their main source of income. In the past year, Yuup has generated over £450k of income for local people and small independent creative businesses in the Bristol and Bath region. 

Maria Fernandez, from Healing Weeds, hosts foraging workshops in Bristol. Her experiences teach guests how to identify seasonal wild produce and how to make balms, medicines, cordials, and elixirs from the foraged harvest. Using Yuup, Maria was able to change her career in order to properly pursue the thing she loves. She said:

“Yuup helped me turn my hobby into a business and Healing Weeds is now my main source of income.”

 

A positive impact for creative sectors and small independent businesses

Since launching in the middle of a pandemic, Yuup has been used by Bristol creatives to help their income streams and businesses bounce back from lockdown and the effects of the pandemic. 

The drop in economic activity within the UK in response to the pandemic impacted SMEs and the self-employed significantly in comparison to their larger business counterparts. 

Local businesses were forced to adapt in order to survive. For indie businesses that could facilitate experiences, Yuup provided a platform that allowed alternative revenue streams to the local businesses that were struggling to achieve their pre-pandemic footfall. 

Alice from Trylla shop on North Street joined Yuup early on in order to use the platform as a kickstart to her business’ post-pandemic recovery. Her pottery making experiences have been so popular that Alice has since hired new staff to help support the demand for her pottery classes on Yuup.

Yuup’s positive social impact extends to platform support, marketing, and a ticketing system for charity events and fundraisers. Yuup’s recent collaboration with Belly Laughs comedy festival 2022 raised over 22k for charity and generated over 10k of revenue for local restaurants and bars. The company have also recently supported grassroots charities such as MAZI Project and KASK’s Ukraine Fundraiser.

Four ways to join Yuup’s growing community

At the start of February 2022, Yuup announced that the business will be opening up investment to the public to allow for the company’s scaling up operations this year. There are a number of ways that you can join the Yuup community. As an investor, as a Yuup host, by introducing a Yuup host, or as a customer. 

How to join the Yuup community as an investor: Yuup’s crowdfund is open until March 31st, and the funds raised will go towards reaching hundreds more potential experience hosts in Bristol and Bath, generating income and jobs for locals and the communities that need it most. 

Yuup will also be launching in its second city this summer, connecting creatives, makers and dreamers from another UK city to the Yuup community. 

You can join the crowdfund from as little as £20. You will own a part of Yuup and participate in the financial rewards of share ownership. Your investment will support local independent businesses whilst helping even more people to discover incredible things to do in their local area. Visit the Yuup crowdfund webpage to watch the investment film and find out more here: https://invest.yuup.co/

How to join Yuup as an experience host: If you are a creative or passionate local person, you could turn that love of something into an experience for others to enjoy. Yuup helps people create, promote, and host experiences. 

It’s free to join the platform, and you get simple tools, a host portal, and marketing support and investment. A small commission is taken from each sold experience, so Yuup only makes money when you make money. 

The scope for experiences is almost boundless. From food and drink tours to cooking classes, craft workshops to cinema nights, outdoor adventures to indoor wellbeing sessions. If you love it, why not share the experience? Get in touch with the Yuup team about your future experience here: https://www.yuup.co/pages/join

How to introduce an experience host: Do you know a wicked weaver? A crowd-pleasing cook? A passionate painter? A cool climber? Refer your friend to the Yuup team and help them turn their passion into a business. Refer an experience host here: https://www.yuup.co/host_referrals/new

How to join the Yuup community as a customer: Just browse yuup.co and pick something that you would love to do! Alternatively, you can also buy experiences as gifts, purchase gift cards, or use Yuup’s experiences in your employee rewards scheme.

Join award-winning paid media agency Launch, alongside Google and Microsoft, at an event designed to inform, educate and reassure businesses that a cookieless future doesn’t mean the end of in-depth insights.

The two breakfast events will be held on 11th May at the Engine Shed in Bristol, and 19th May at the Hotel du Vin in Exeter (8:30 – 10:30am). They will provide a vital opportunity for South West businesses to understand the changes to data capture, as consumers are given more control of their online presence, with potential financial fines for non-compliance.

Jaye Cowle, Managing Director at Launch, says: “This is an extremely important workshop for business owners and marketers. Google and Microsoft will be in the room presenting on the changes that have happened, and how to adjust your marketing as a result. It is imperative that marketing departments understand how to responsibly track and engage with your customers in the future.”

In addition to representatives from Google and Microsoft, there will be presentations from Launch’s Data Strategist Michael Patten, and Noisy Little Monkey’s Technical Director Jon Payne. They will cover some alternative routes businesses can take as user permission and data visibility in digital marketing become increasingly important and sensitive topics.

Places are limited, so register your attendance in either Bristol or Exeter today.

In Part 1 of our guide to measuring marketing’s effectiveness, we examined the key metrics required to demonstrate overall business impact. We then explored ways to measure brand awareness. In part two, we’ll focus on further key measures for brand impact, and move on to measuring how the marketing has performed in terms of business generation.

If you haven’t yet read Part 1, we’d recommend doing so as we’ll be jumping right back in where we left off…

Once again, our aim is to prioritise the essential information needed for a board report. The data needed by the marketing team to optimise these results will be the subject of a separate article.

Report section 2: brand building (continued)

Recall and perception

Budgets permitting, you can delve a little deeper than the top-level awareness metrics we mentioned in Part 1. By asking the right questions, you’ll gain a better understanding of how your target market perceives you against the competition. You’ll also discover how persuasively your offer and marketing messages are resonating.

Recruiting respondents can be achieved either by leveraging your advertising and PR relationships with publishers, or through social media platforms, using a service like Liveminds.

Another vital source of feedback about brand impact is your sales teamRegularly check in with them for on-the-ground intel on whether the brand is affecting their ability to open doors and how they’re welcomed and perceived when they meet.

Trust, recommendation and satisfaction

Your Net Promoter Score® (NPS®) is an industry standard benchmark used to gauge how satisfied customers are with the brand. Survey respondents are asked how likely they are to recommend you to their friends and colleagues on a score from 1 to 10. While this is a useful top-level metric for the board, running the survey also provides the opportunity to dig deeper. Ask questions about what customers are satisfied or unsatisfied with, and why.

Depending on the quality of your CRM data, you can also gain insight into any patterns emerging from different customer segments.

There are potential problems with an over-reliance on the NPS® measure, however, as it can suffer from bias if your sample size is too small.

It’s wise to supplement your snapshot score by monitoring review sites, social signals and feedback from your customer service team to get a full picture of how well your customers trust you and are satisfied with your products and services.

Report section 3: business generation

Revenue growth

This should show the revenue generated from customers who entered the prospecting funnel through marketing activity and were converted by sales. The report should present figures for the period since the last report, and highlight the trend over previous reporting periods. Ideally, it will split this into revenue from tracked direct-response campaign activity against brand response (originating from website leads and inbound calls).

Other growth metrics

To supplement the top-line revenue figures, include the number of customers acquired and the average order value. You may also want to breakdown the results into segments of strategic importance such as industry and regional growth.

Quality metrics

To demonstrate the quality of leads generated, measure the conversion rates from lead to sales qualification and customer. Again, present these for the reporting period as well as showing the trend over previous periods.

Performance metrics

This is where you demonstrate what the marketing spend on direct response/ABM marketing was for the period, and what was delivered in return. This should include:

–      Total spend on media, production, agency fees etc.

–      Return on advertising spend (ROAS), calculated by dividing the revenue generated by the total spend.

–      Return on investment (ROI). This is more difficult to calculate, as it shows the amount of potential PROFIT generated from the budget as opposed to the REVENUE generated in the ROAS calculation. You’ll need to work with your finance team to gain a picture of the average profit margin for each of your products and services, matching these against the records of what has been ordered in your CRM. If you’re purely a service business, the potential profit may not match the actual profit due to overruns.

Less clutter, more clarity

As previously mentioned, there is a wealth of data you could present to the board. Our purpose here has been to suggest the core metrics that will strategically demonstrate how effective your marketing activity is.

You may choose to add other information to provide further detail, but always remember that the key to effective reporting is clarity. Don’t overwhelm your executives with data. Stick to what matters to them and avoid the temptation to try and look clever by throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it.

Need guidance putting your report together or making sense of your data? We’re here to help. Get in touch with us at [email protected].