Launching a marketing campaign based on your company’s goals and strategic initiatives is a sure way to meet your expectations, but do you know if your campaigns are delivering the highest return on investment (ROI)?

This is a reality many organizations struggle with. While you may forecast your potential earnings, you want a more definitive approach to analyzing ROI. Here are a few ways you can track your campaigns to maximize the benefits.

Unique phone numbers. When placing media related to specific campaigns, use a unique phone number for each medium, whether it’s print, radio or broadcast. When calls come in, you can track where an individual heard or saw your specific ad. You can better monitor which media channels are yielding the highest return.

Custom website page.  Depending on your target audience, majority of people prefer to visit websites. Having a dedicated landing page or custom web address attached to a campaign allows you to track visitors to that page and monitor activity trends. You can gain insight on which campaigns are driving traffic. Tracking website activity is explained more in depth in the next item.

Google analytics. This is a valuable tool for any organization to monitor traffic to their website.  Use the google dashboard to understand which pages are being visited more than others, getting more unique clicks, have repeat traffic, high page views, etc. This allows you to enhance your website and maximize its potential based on your monthly report findings.

Specific promotions. Running specific promotions allows you the ability to utilize promo codes that must be used or mentioned in order to receive the promotion. You can use unique codes with print, radio, TV, direct mailing, etc. For example in a newspaper ad you can say, “Mention the word Bluebird to receive your free gift,” whereas radio you can say “Call us and mention the word radio.” Again, it’s about knowing the effectiveness of your marketing channels.

Ask customers. Old fashion communication is still very much in tune with marketing strategies. Just talk to callers or walk-in’s, and ask where they heard about you. My advice is not to give them choices. They may just pick the first or second choice you rattled off, rather than answering truthfully.  Every customer interaction is an opportunity to measure your ROI. Do it consistently on every level.

A successful campaign can only be measured by its overall effectiveness. Tap into these resources and understand if you’re marketing dollars are being spent appropriately, or need to be shifted. Justify your marketing investments and start building campaigns that support your strategy.