One of the keys to a successful business is finding the balance between providing incredible return-on-investment (ROI) for your customers while maintaining great ROI on your own sales and marketing efforts.
But how can you be sure you are receiving the best returns for your efforts?
In this article, we reveal the real meaning of ROI and the secrets to getting the best bang for your buck.
What Is Real The Meaning Of ROI?
For most businesses, ROI means receiving monetary gains out of an investment that go above and beyond what you pay for a product or service.
However, true ROI is not simply a one-time return: the best investments provide a “snowballing” effect on returns. What does that mean?
Quite simply, snowballing ROI means receiving long-term, ongoing returns from your investment. By achieving snowballing ROI, you get an asset that will provide monetary gains well into the future.
ROI can include more than just monetary gains, however. Some of the best ROI you can provide is unmatched customer service. When your customers feel that you are committed to their win, you can turn them into raving fans of your business (which is some of the best marketing you can get!).
So what is the secret to providing great ROI while getting the most out of your own sales and marketing efforts?
Tracking: The True Test of ROI
It’s shocking how many companies don’t track their marketing efforts. How else can you know what investments are providing the best returns on your dollar?
For example, suppose you advertise your business across multiple medias, such as print, TV, and radio. Without specific and unique tracking information for each advertising medium, you cannot know where the highest quantity and quality of leads are coming from.
If you could find out that TV provided you the most and best leads by far, wouldn’t you invest more in TV ads and save on the others? Tracking makes this possible, so you can put your money where it matters most.
So what can you use to track your efforts to figure out if your sales and marketing efforts are worth it?
Technology Makes It Possible
New technology makes it possible for a small business to track and test all of its efforts in a way that wasn’t possible in the past. Here are four technologies you can use to transform your business today:
1. Google Analytics – This free technology from Google enables you to track how people are using (and finding) your website, allowing you to find out what’s working and what needs improvement.
2. Split Testing Software – This software allows you to test two different versions of a web page – each one is shown to 50% of your site visitors. Whichever page moves more visitors forward in the sales funnel is the winner!
3. Call Tracking – Remember those print, TV, and radio ads that couldn’t be tracked before? Now they can be! Use call tracking technology to determine exactly which marketing avenues are bringing in the most and best leads.
4. Live Chat Software – Use this technology to engage visitors on your website to help them find what they need or answer their questions. By using this technology, you can provide the kind of customer service that turns clients into raving fans!
Any of these technologies can be used to deliver massive ROI for the sales & marketing of any small business, no matter how big or small.
Top Three Ways You Can Get Better ROI Today
There’s never been a better time in history than right now for your business to build sustainable, snowballing ROI with new technology. To summarize, here are three things you can start doing today to skyrocket your ROI in the long term:
1. Use data to make decisions – Track everything in your business that you can and use that data to make decisions moving forward. If you try something new, always track it – how else will you know if it worked?
2. Survey your customers – Use a tool like Survey Monkey to discover what your customers truly feel about your product or service. Use this data to tailor product or service to your customers’ wants and needs!
3. Create systems & processes – Automate parts of your sales process, document your employee training protocol, and teach your customers the best way to communicate with you. Save time and money while making life simpler for you and your customers.
With these three tactics alone, there is no limit to the ROI you can create for both yourself and your customers.
So what are you waiting for? Start creating snowballing ROI for your business today!
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About The Author
Arsham Mirshah is one of the Co-Founders of Baltimore-based Internet Marketing company, WebMechanix. Arsham is a big fan of analytics and loves being able to demonstrate snowballing ROI for his customers using that data.
Prior to Co-Founding WebMechanix, Arsham graduated from the University of Maryland with dual degrees in Computational Biology and Computer Science.
