It is essential that with any marketing plan you implement you take the time to track its success. If you do not track and evaluate your marketing plan you can not determine which marketing tactics achieved the best results for your business and which should or should not be repeated the following year. Over time the tracking and evaluation of your marketing tactics will save you valuable time and money and will ensure the tactics you implement each year are best suited to support and grow your business.

To track and evaluate your marketing tactics you will need to consider the following:

Your Marketing Objectives
Before you implement any marketing tactic you need to set your marketing objectives i.e. what actions your key customers (both current and potential) need to take in order to achieve your sales objectives. It is only by setting clear and relevant marketing objectives that you will be able to track your marketing plan's success.

Remember, whilst a marketing tactic may not achieve immediate results it may assist in achieving your longer term marketing objectives. For example, implementing a customer service program may not result in additional sales in 3 months but will contribute to your objective of retaining your key customers by building strong, long term relationships with them.

Costs Involved in Implementing Each Tactic
The cost of implementing a marketing tactic should at least be covered by the results achieved. Ideally your marketing tactics should result in additional sales that not only cover expenses but increase the overall profitability of your business.

Depending on the timing of your marketing expenditure eg. monthly you will need to analyse what your actual marketing costs were versus the monthly budget you set. If you over or under spend on a tactic, this will impact on your business's profitability and cash flow. Your marketing expenses should therefore be revised at least quarterly to ensure they remain accurate and on budget.

Your Marketing Tactic's Performance
Before you implement your marketing tactic you should consider what results you wish to achieve. Once the tactic is implemented you can then compare your actual results to the ones you estimated to see if the tactic was successful.

If you are conducting a new tactic consider what sales you will need to achieve to cover the costs. For example, if your marketing tactic will cost $2000 will you gain an additional $2000 in sales from the tactic? If you have conducted a similar tactic in the past look at the results you achieved so you can use this as a benchmark for estimating future results.

Every month it is a good idea to keep track of whether you are meeting your sales forecast so that if necessary you can amend your expenses (including marketing) or put in place additional sales and marketing tactics to ensure you reach your sales and marketing objectives.

Copyright © Marketing for Business Success Pty Ltd 2008