Inbound marketing measurement
Using analytics for hospital marketing ROI
We’ve written at length about the importance of measuring marketing results; to justify campaign costs, reinforce media decisions, align staff and refine tactics to achieve better outcomes. In this post, we’ll look at measuring inbound marketing, and how healthcare organizations can use analytics to prove ROI and attract more consumers to their inbound marketing channels.
Why marketing analytics matter
Measurement is an essential step in any marketing effort. It helps to determine what activities were successful, which were failures, and what can be done differently the next time. Without it, there’s no way of proving that any dollar spent brought the organization any closer to its goals. Here’s a quick recap of why it’s important to measure marketing results.
Tracking Inbound marketing metrics helps you:
- Evaluate and refine tactics to determine what’s working, what isn’t working, and how to improve results;
- Prioritize marketing efforts based on performance to make strategic cuts that will reduce the budget while still making the biggest impact possible;
- Determine which tactics should get more attention or funding the following year;
- Take a proactive approach to marketing efforts to make adjustments during the campaign and turn results around.
Establishing goals, benchmarks and indicators
Defining benchmarks, goals, and indicators provides a framework for determining the success of your campaign, and for reporting the costs and return on investment of your marketing efforts.
- Benchmarking: Benchmarking is a way to compare campaign results and performance metrics to current conditions, historical data, competitive data, or industry standards.
- Big Picture v. Tactical Goals: Big picture goals are the overall objective to all marketing efforts. These goals are affixed to the business side of healthcare. Tactical goals are related to the marketing side of healthcare. These are the smaller objectives, or stepping stones, related to each individual campaign.
- Leading v. Lagging Indicators: Leading indicators are activities or incidences that suggest trend. While they are not guarantees, basic assumptions can be made based on performance. Lagging indicators are when the task or goal has been reached.
For an overview of measurement tools and tactics for inbound healthcare marketing channels, including website and online marketing, email marketing and social media, download the white paper