Any business action you take requires knowing what the desired result will be, but also knowing what to do once that desired result has been reached and measuring the impact and efficiency of previous actions, so that you can make improvements for future goals.
This really starts with understanding what the CTA (Call To Action) might be for any business communications, interactions or activities. So take a second to think about whether at this moment you are looking for networking connections, contributions to your blog, increasing exposure to a new target audience, growing the contact list, or drawing attention to an article you wrote - and whether you are communicating that desired CTA clearly.
The results of each business communication or activity is gathered from available analytics such as:
• Examining CTR (Click Through Rate)
• Evaluating the ROI (Return On Investment)
• Deciding if you have met the projected KPI (Key Performance Indicators)
Examining this data will help you determine if you really did attain what you were hoping for - or if you received more than you were hoping for, and if you were surprised by results you did not expect.
Business activities rarely truly "fail" because we can use these lower results to learn from and improve future efforts. Have a meeting with the staff or your mentor and figure out what things might attribute to that success or failure. You will learn, then, whether the wording of your query letter, email or article is working hard. The evaluation will provide you with ways of improving upon your efforts and getting the best return on future investments.
Let me share with you an over simplified example just to show how this works:
I have a Just For Writer's series published mid-month on the Brummet's Conscious blog that I want to boost on social networks and so I create a new social networking post sharing the link once it is published.
Just sharing the link itself is OK, but then I want to look at this from a purple snowflake marketing view... meaning: what draws their eyes to my post? The font, the language I am using, the amount of white space that I allow, the image, the colourful background all play a role in getting my post to stand out like a purple snowflake in a snowstorm of other social networking posts.
If my CTA, in this case, is to get people to click the link I shared in social networking post and I want them read page I am sending them to - then I want to make sure that I communicate that CTA in the dialogue:
"Check out the great book marketing resources that you can use at no cost today!"
When they arrive on the blog post, people will find that I have created one or more CTA's there as well. They might encounter:
• "Leave a comment"
• "Ask your questions - we'd love to hear from you"
• "Drop by our YouTube channel for more great information"
What this boils down to is to continue adding links in the chain so that we can reach individuals, get them interested and then keep them coming back - and it is our responsibility to nurture that growing relationship along the way.
So going back to the social networking post I just released to the public... My KPI then would be the number of people that responded to the post, and how many additional blog readers I attracted.
This is where the analysis of data comes in. Knowing what yesterday's blog post #'s allows me to compare today's readership #'s. I can compare to similar days of the week - i.e.: every Monday back a month or two, and see if this post received more views than average. I'll watch for feedback in the comment section, look for any "likes" or "shares".
My ROI, in this case, will be increased blog readership, but I'm also nurturing brand identity, building relationships and solidifying existing market authority.
My Action Plan to nurture that relationship will be to gradually entice readers to check out previously published content, browse the various pages and links available on the blog, purchase a product, communicate with us or leave a comment.... and keep them coming back time and time again.
I realize this is an oversimplified example but the point is to think through what your goals are. Take a moment to write a few bullet points so that you have a plan to follow. That plan will show you the steps you need to take to ensure that you have the greatest return on investment for every action you take.
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