Metrics, marketing and money

I used to own a cybercafe. It was quite an adventure. We combined web and software development with video gaming and coffee. We floated it with a line of credit, and ran it based on a business plan I developed with MS Word, Excel, and some tips from a few websites.

There were a lot of things we didn't know, and even though I don't want to try it again...

The lessons were priceless.

One that I want to mention here is metrics.

We spent $4000 on a TV ad. What an exciting day. The lights, the cameras, the buzz. Everything was there but the customers. Even after the ad aired a few times, still no customers.

ZERO is an easy number to track.

We were fortunate, no need for tracking metrics... 100% loss.

However, if you expect anything other than a total loss, you need to track some numbers. Dollars spent on the campaign is a good starting point. Actually, deciding how to define success (be it New Customers, Total Sales, Leads, Trial Downloads, whatever) is a better place to start. Then, you can look how N Dollars spent on Campaign A achieved X Level of Success and compare that to how M Dollars spent on Campaign B achieved Y level of success.

It's what I call marketing effectiveness

The decision to build custom software, re-design your website, advertise on TV, or hire a new employee should all be based on a consideration of the return on investment. Spending the time, effort, and money to manage your investments is the best way to guarantee you're still in business to file next year's taxes.

This belief sparked me to consider an offline marketing campaign-tracking tool. We set out to build a system that helps gauge the effectiveness of money spent offline by measuring various aspects of activity online. It helps put our clients back in the driver seat, behind the dashboard, focused on the road ahead.

Interested?

Feel free to poke around the metTrax site for even more details..