This is part of a series of articles that I’m writing about my journey as a business owner. In the nine years since I started, I’ve failed a lot, I’ve learnt a lot, and for sure building a business is much harder than I imagined.
But I’m still learning — every day — and so each day I get better and so does my business, and I’ve realised that is the most important thing.
These articles are about some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way.
It doesn’t matter how many hits your website gets
It really doesn’t.
Nor does it matter how many likes or comments you get on social media.
There are only two numbers that matter:
- How many qualified leads are we producing?
- How much business are we generating from those leads?
Everything else might help you understand how your marketing is being received – page views, search ranking, bounce rate, time on site etc. And I stress ‘might’, as they’re only a guide, and are often misleading.
But so often these metrics are used to measure the “success” of a campaign.
Only the number of qualified leads you are producing will indicate the quality of traffic your getting – and whether your marketing is getting to the right people. And that’s what will impact your business.
I appreciate it’s tricky for Digital Marketing Agencies; they want to be measured on things they can control, and they can’t influence your sales process. But don’t let anyone convince you it’s worth running a campaign solely for “Brand Awareness”; it’s not, not in a small business at least. (This will be the subject of a separate article in the future).
I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to put your message in front of more people; I’m saying measure your campaigns by the numbers that matter, and don’t get distracted by things that have no impact on your bottom line.
Steve Stovold
CEO
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