Social media marketing has turned our business era into something unlike any other.

No, I’m not talking about engagement with customers, or viral marketing, or high speed Word of mouth advertising.

Rather, I’m talking about a not-so-good development that has happened to our marketing minds:

People have lost track of the bottom line.

If you want to stay in business, you have to make some of this.

Experimentation and innovation in your company are essential. So don’t get me wrong.

But what I’m talking about is focusing on aspects of the brand that have nothing to do with the main points of focus for an entrepreneur.
And I think the major disconnect is in how we measure success.
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I have a Master’s Degree in PR. When I went through the program, I remember a class discussion in which we spoke at length about how to measure PR. This is a topic still spoken about at long length in the marketing blogosphere.

And rightfully so. When you’re a company putting hard-earned dollars into marketing and PR, you want to see returns. Finding the right way to measure those returns is the first step to tracking how you’re doing.

On one side, you have marketers who believe creating a positive context for sales and adding value to the business in the form of customer engagement and positive image should be counted. They see value in more than just dollar signs.

On the other side, you have ROI-driven, measuring tape-carrying oil company C-Suiters who believe ROI is the only value to measure by.
In the class discussion I had in my PR program, I was on the side of the first group. But as time has gone on, I have migrated toward the second group.

When you create marketing campaigns, departments, programs, etc., you are creating them as sales support. That’s it. If the material they create doesn’t assist in the sales process, they are not good marketing efforts.
There are a lot of ways you can demonstrate this process. For example, higher search volume is often more highly associated with sales for online products. And traditional advertising is known for creating higher search volume. If your campaign is sharp and well-timed, you should be able to show positive attribution between these factors and use them as KPIs.

But you will notice again that the key measurement of your business always comes back to the same factor:

Sales.

As an entrepreneur and business owner, the bottom line is how much cash you have on hand and whether or not you are bringing more money in at a higher and higher growth rate. That is the true measurement of success for a business. If you can bring in more and more resources while expending less and less, and you can stick to your core principles doing so, your business is a success.

(This guy, BTW, is a genius regarding the core values part of it).

The sales-focused philosophy is the one I have brought into my business. In the end, everything must contribute in some way to achieving a specific business goal that shows at least a strong correlation to sales. Unless you are one of the dynamic corporate monsters capable of simply riding advertising and a PR retainer at the top of the market forever, your business needs to bring in customers. As a business owner just like you, I understand that. If your product is well-made and has the margins it needs, then all you need to do is sell to have a successful business.
Since I have started telling potential clients this, my close rate has gone up. My customer satisfaction has gone up.

And business is moving along smoothly.

Start with sales. Everything in your business will move along much faster if you figure out how to get your products and services moving.

Want this kind of thinking for your marketing department? We’re the team for you. Give us a shout today so we can talk about how we can help contribute to your business at [email protected].

Image: emdot, CC 2.0