Margie Barkley: Seven Ways for a Successful Performer Marketer

Want to know how to be a successful performer marketer? This article will provide you with actionable takeaways to help you build your performance marketing capabilities as a CMO. You can also download a FREE ebook on performance marketing to learn more.

Impress the board by demonstrating your understanding of the activities that will improve performance and the bottom line.

Performance Marketer Tip No. 1: Use a tool that measures ROI

We have access reams upon reams (and reams) of data. Data is only as valuable as a chocolate-flavored teapot if we don’t know what to do with it.

You need to invest in the best data collection and reporting tool.

If social media is an important part of your marketing plan, and you use a tool that helps you manage, create and publish your social media content you will likely have reporting capabilities.

These reporting features allow you to get data directly from the social networks that will tell you how many people like, follow, and share your content.

However, most social media management software only allows you to collect and report vanity metrics. No social media management tool on the market can tell you your ROI (in monetary terms) for social media activities.

Except for Agorapulse.

Agorapulse, the only social media management tool that automatically adds UTMs for every link you post, is connected to Google Analytics. This means you can track every user who clicks on the content that you publish and attribute their activity and spending to revenue.

Book a demo to see it in action.

The more accurate my tracking, the better I am able to attribute my marketing efforts. “Without good tracking, I cannot attribute success to a specific source, and therefore, also evaluate the impact of a channel on the overall results.” (Yannick Schimdt, head of B2C for Nerds).

Performance Marketer Tip #2: Collect first-party data

Don’t hesitate to ask for it.

Dark social is here to stay, and even though third-party cookies are no longer available, key performance data still can be collected.

You would be surprised at what you could do, for instance, with first-party information and an attribution modeling. First-party data, even though it is a different topic, can be a goldmine when it comes to personalization strategies.

Why not ask them where they are from and how they found you instead?

You can ask someone “How did you learn about us?” in a form-fill, and use that information to decide on the true attribution. (Lisa Sharapata CMO, The Arbinger Institute).

This type of contact will give you the data that you need to prove your performance. Talking one-on-one with customers also brings in the personal touch we all crave in this tech-first age.

Test everything, all the time.

The old adage “If you do the same thing every day, you will always get the same result” (or even less) is true.

Test your content constantly to determine what converts and what doesn’t. Be brutal with the things that don’t work. Remove the dead weeds so that your flowers can grow and bloom.

It’s all about analyzing conversion rates to determine where you can improve. It’s basically saying, ‘OK we’re going tweak this and do an AB Test, and if it is a clear win, if it is working in terms of ROI and conversion, then we are going to run with it.

Demand Gen should convert into revenue. “If you are not converting to revenue, something is wrong in your sales and/or marketing funnel and you should fix it.”

Performance Marketer Tip #4: Inform with Upfront Conversations

We have already discussed that not all of our actions are measurable or trackable. Not all of our actions will result in a performance-based return.

You must have real and honest conversations with key stakeholders to manage expectations.

Lisa Sharapata says that brand awareness activities do drive performance. When you run campaigns, it’s possible that you won’t see an immediate ROI. However, you could see an increase in traffic to your website, slightly improved conversion rates, or an increase in LinkedIn subscribers.

Some of these things can be indicators that your brand awareness efforts are working.

You can use these to say: “Look, at this time, we cannot directly link it to revenue, but I’ve seen what’s going on.” This shows that the money is being spent wisely and that we are doing the right thing. Over time, I’m expecting it to become a demand. I was wrong. This doesn’t work. We are going to reallocate this money. We’re moving that money here.

It’s important to have an open discussion about success and how it can be measured. ”

Performance Marketer Tip #5: Learn what data you need and how to use it

We need to first know what information we require.

You have your own marketing objectives. You work hard to achieve your goals.

What are the CFO’s goals?

Are you able to understand the needs of your board members or investors?

You could be wasting your time if you fail to do so.

Imagine that one of your goals is to increase your social media following. You could probably achieve this goal by posting viral content across all of your social networks. If the CFO wants to increase revenue by 8% per quarter, can an increase in followers help them achieve that goal? How much money have you spent on viral campaigns?

Download your FREE ebook on performance marketing now!

How will you prove ROI?

You should form relationships with key stakeholders, and work together to ensure that your goals and theirs are aligned. Also, you need to collect the correct performance data in order for them and you can prove ROI.

Lisa Sharapata says, “I began my career in graphic design but, as I rose up the corporate ladder I realized I needed to know more about the inner workings of the business.”

“I took the time to interview CFOs I knew well, and especially those with whom I had worked closely. I put my ego aside and just asked questions. I became curious. I was curious.

It can be overwhelming at first. The amount of numbers, data and analytics that we have at our disposal could fill an ocean. It can be overwhelming. Start with a few things and then work your way backwards.

“Understand your stakeholders’ goals and what will have the greatest impact: What are they really looking for?

These conversations help to build a relationship and gain people’s support. Then, they’ll support you during difficult conversations like “What happened to that chunk of money?”

It is not enough to know what you need.

Next, you need to figure out how to use its power to achieve a performance that is sky-high.

Darryl Praill is the CMO at Agorapulse. “I want to get more people to look at the blog series, not just subscribe to it.” I want to know who the subscribers are. I want them be selective in determining if the ICP fits or not. They must understand the data that will determine who converts.

They need to know who they’re targeting and what keywords are being searched. Then, I want them to use that data to create more effective content and campaigns.

Content creation is no longer just for the sake or creating content.

Content is becoming a strategic component of marketing. It’s important to consider the data behind your content creation and how it should be created. “You can’t throw spaghetti at the walls and hope that it sticks any more.” (Lisa Sharapata).

Performance Marketing Tip #6: Adapt and accept rapid, continuous change

“Yes, this is a big change, and yes, changes are scary. There was a time when there wasn’t an Internet. (I was born before the Internet. ) It was once necessary to learn to use the Internet for marketing. Marketing is always evolving. Particularly with technology. Accept the fact that your career may change at some point. “It’s how you adapt to that change.” (Darryl Praill).

Marketing is like a never-ending conveyor belt. Always something new is coming. There’s always something new to learn or discover.

“I came across an article that talked about a CMO who had worked with all of the top companies in the industry, including Netflix and Microsoft. I was like, ‘How do you become the CMO at Microsoft?’ This is no small feat. The individual started out as a Bill Gates speechwriter. It’s all about adapting and reinventing oneself.” (Darryl Praill).

Change is always inevitable.

It’s a shift from being a brand marketer to focusing on performance. “The only constant in this world is change.”

Take Lisa as an example. She began as a designer. She’s been a CMO for several years now. She achieved this by accepting change, adapting herself to what came her way and asking all questions.

Download your FREE ebook on performance marketing now!

Performance Marketer 7: Integrate performance and brand marketing strategies

Branding is not forgotten just because performance is the main focus.

Spending time and money to build awareness and nurture relationships with current and future customers is still necessary. We need to combine this activity, and prove our value, with attributable and measureable performance-based strategies such as affiliate or influencer campaigns.

The battle between “performance marketing” and “brand marketing”, is not a simple one. We must adopt a holistic approach to marketing, combining the strengths of both.

Lisa Sharapata says, “I began my career in brand marketing.” “That’s where my passion was.” I realized quickly that I had to know what worked and what didn’t in order to make good strategic decisions. To do a better work, I needed to have performance data.

You can learn a lot from data, which will help you make better decisions, such as what channels to use or what words to use. But you also need marketing artistry. To master marketing, you need to find the right balance between Yin (Yin-Yang) and Yang (Yin).

The conclusion of the article is:

You need to start doing it now. Understanding and embracing the numbers.”

For many of us, performance marketing can be an intimidating place. There’s suddenly a huge pressure on us to justify and prove our performance in cold, hard financial terms, which we are not used to.

Because they are not measurable, our traditional brand awareness campaigns that aim to build intangible relationships and engagement with customers cannot be used to demonstrate ROI.

We must continue to use brand-led marketing, but we must also combine it with performance-based marketing, so that we can gather data and prove performance. This will not only stop stakeholders from putting pressure on us, but you will be able to make better choices, learn new skills, and do your job more effectively. You will also earn respect both inside and outside of the company.

Have frank discussions with your superiors, use the correct tools and data, test continuously what you are doing and accept and embrace the change.

“My friends, if you want to be the one in charge, then you have to become a performance marketing expert.” (Darryl Praill).

To learn more, download a copy of Performance Marketing: How to Move From a Brand Marketing to a Successful Performer Marketer.