Take control of your marketing and drive revenue growth

The perception that marketing exists to order collateral, design logos, and develop taglines must be corrected. Especially in industrial markets, where proving return on investment (ROI) on marketing is now more critical than ever.

So, what can industrial marketers do to be perceived as part of the sales machine that drives revenue and profit growth? How can industrial marketers take control and gain the respect of their peers, be treated seriously, and be seen as an investment, not an expense?

Start with identifying the metrics that will count, be noticed, and not debated by any employee in your company. With strong evidence of the right metrics, you will prove your worth very quickly. Stay sharp, disciplined, and creative – you’ve got this!  

Industrial marketers can choose many metrics to measure results and outcomes from marketing activity. But only a few metrics count and the elimination of the wrong metrics will set you free. These are the wrong metrics:

• Vanity metrics – number of social followers, impressions, database results – ignore these and move away. You will never be taken seriously by pointing to vanity metrics and feel good results to justify your activity.

• Quantity not Quality – lead generation activities can produce hundreds, even thousands of leads. Are these leads any good, suited to your business, of any scale, core to your product, and service offerings? Low-quality leads will frustrate sales and will ultimately end up hurting you as a marketer. Focus on quality, sales qualified leads that will be talked about and converted.

• Activity, not Results – marketing activity in the form of communications and content is easy to demonstrate. A link to sales revenue must be established for this work to prove ROI. Being clever and tracking results in different forms is the key.

• Expenses and Costs – these are the worst metrics for any marketer; they frame the marketing department in any company as a cost centre. If marketers only talk about costs and budgets, your peers will quickly see you as an overhead.

• Events and Web Visits – always handy to know, but if the wrong people and audience represent these numbers – they are useless. Marketers need to point to relevant data and link it to hard metrics.

Always think of presenting your worth to a room full of accountants and analysts… Think of metrics that will appeal to the CEO, CFO, and Operations Leader. Metrics such as revenue, margin, profit cash flow, market share, ROI, and shareholder value. All these metrics demonstrate your company’s market position and standing. The following questions may help:

• How did we perform in the past?
  
  – Backwards looking metrics will provide trends of performance and evidence of worth. Link your marketing activity to specific sales results, margin improvement, and / or profit. Find these links, examine them, and prove them with evidence.
  
  

• How are we performing now?
  
  – Real-time metrics will provide insight into current performance. You have the flexibility to change strategies and link your marketing activity to different measures/sales outcomes. Based on competitor reactions you can pivot and re-direct your efforts. Leverage the sales team to do this and influence them to generate the best results for your company.
  
  

• How will we perform in the future?
  
  – Leading indicators or metrics can provide forward-looking ideas and strategies. Forecasting and goal setting for the future will allow marketing to test different scenarios to choose the most effective activity. Do this well and you’ll be able to predict the right time to execute the right activity for the best outcome.

Marketing performance is a result of using the right metrics and linking activity to effectiveness. As a marketer you only as good as the results you deliver, and these results must matter to your company.

If you’d like some help with your approach to industrial marketing, let’s chat.

INDUSTRIAL MARKETING STRATEGY GUIDE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Zafiris is an industrial marketer and founder of Industrial Ideas. Having built his experience in B2B marketing from the ground up, Peter understands what it takes to succeed with your marketing strategy. All client projects are personally managed by Peter to help industrials like you get the return on investment you deserve. Peter and team, work hard to become an extension of your business, to help you get the most out of your marketing efforts. Get your free 30 minute marketing consultation to learn more.