by Fronetics | Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Data/Analytics, Marketing, Strategy
Measuring blogging ROI is crucial to your overall marketing success.
Just as with outbound marketing activities, your company’s inbound marketing efforts should be given the same attention when it comes to Return on Investment (ROI) analysis. In fact, companies who measure inbound marketing ROI are more than 12 times more likely to generate better year-over-year returns. And with blogging being reported as the number one method for increasing website traffic, it should stand to reason that calculating ROI for your blogging efforts is crucial to your overall inbound marketing success.
Calculating ROI for blogging activities isn’t as straightforward as say, ROI from click-to-conversion, but its achievements can be measured in other ways. Consider employing a blend of these four categories to measure the effectiveness of your blogging efforts.
Audience and Content Reach
According to a 2013 HubSpot report, 85% of marketers reported increased web traffic within seven months of beginning inbound marketing activities. While it’s true that building a successful blog can take some time, there are things you can do (and measure) to speed its maturity. Encourage engagement and reach by crafting relevant and interesting content for your audience. This increases the likelihood your content is shared and commented on by your readers.
Track this: Beyond noting any increases in web traffic, track both your average cost per view and the number of comments and social shares your blog content receives.
Lead Generation
Tying revenue directly to publishing and distributing blog content can be difficult. Thinking about blogging activities within the context of your entire sales funnel can make it easier to determine effectiveness. As blog content is typically used to attract leads, encourage readers to subscribe to your blog or submit contact info to get higher-value content. Continued engagement nurtures leads and moves them further down the sales funnel.
Track this: The cost to get a lead. You can then determine the percentage of leads that move on to become qualified leads, the percentage of qualified leads that then become opportunities, and the percentage of opportunities that are ultimately won. At the end of the day, you’ll be able to calculate the revenue generated from leads that entered the funnel from blog content.
Intangibles
What are you gaining from networking with industry peers? Has your blog played a role in developing and nurturing professional relationships? Could you consider your blogging activities as part of your professional development? Blogging provides benefits outside of traditional marketing ROI measurements. Time spent researching, networking, writing, and engaging with others in your industry should certainly be considered when determining overall usefulness of blogging.
Track this: Sales cycle times. Staying current with industry trends and building a reputation as the go-to industry expert can be reflected in the type of customers and clients you are attracting. Are you attracting more high-quality leads and closing more ideal customers? Thank your blogging activity.
Cost of Customer Acquisition (CoCA)
By understanding how much it costs your business to acquire a new customer, you gain valuable insight into how much your business should be investing on blogging activities.
Track this: Calculate your (CoCA) by dividing your cost to blog by the number of visits the blog. For example, let’s say your company spent $500 on writing a blog post and 100 people visited your site. Your Cost of Visitor Acquisition will be $5 ($500 divided by 100). If 5% of those blog visitors convert into a lead then your Cost of Lead Acquisition (CoA) is $100 ($500 divided by 5 customers). If 10% of those leads actually buy something from you, your final Cost of Customer Acquisition is $50. Investing in one blog post will yield one new customer for every $50 you invest.
While it can feel a little unwieldy to measure ROI from blogging activities, keeping a strong focus on blogging goals and objectives will help to lend weight to metrics that will ultimately matter the most to you and your business. What measures does your company use to measure ROI for blogging?
![Why you need an editorial calendar for your blog [Free template]](https://www.fronetics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/editorial-calendar-template-1080x675.jpg)
by Fronetics | Feb 16, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
An editorial calendar is an invaluable tool; it will drive success.
When it comes to blogging, you may know what outcomes your company is looking to achieve, but do you have a specific plan to get there? We know post and pray isn’t an effective strategy.
Enter the editorial calendar. The use of an editorial calendar gives structure to your blogging efforts. Think of it as both a commitment to your potential customers and built-in accountability for your overall strategy.
The editorial calendar is a dynamic, internal document that will help your team determine what activities you’ll focus on (and when they’ll be completed) in order to connect and engage potential customers with your blog content. Presented in a calendar-like format, an editorial calendar makes it easy to visualize your marketing strategy, ensuring consistently scheduled blog posts and a diversity of topics. Beyond scheduling blog posts, the use of an editorial calendar keeps other essential considerations front of mind. Including related information, such as keyword assignments, target persona(s), and associated promotions or calls to action, will make your editorial calendar an indispensable guide to your blogging success.
We’ve created an editorial calendar template to guide your blogging efforts. Designed to keep you on track as you develop content that will attract and engage your prospects and customers, our template (it’s free) will help you map out your content in a strategic manner, maximize productivity, and keep you organized.
by Fronetics | Feb 16, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
An editorial calendar is an invaluable tool; it will drive success.
When it comes to blogging, you may know what outcomes your company is looking to achieve, but do you have a specific plan to get there? We know post and pray isn’t an effective strategy.
Enter the editorial calendar. The use of an editorial calendar gives structure to your blogging efforts. Think of it as both a commitment to your potential customers and built-in accountability for your overall strategy.
The editorial calendar is a dynamic, internal document that will help your team determine what activities you’ll focus on (and when they’ll be completed) in order to connect and engage potential customers with your blog content. Presented in a calendar-like format, an editorial calendar makes it easy to visualize your marketing strategy, ensuring consistently scheduled blog posts and a diversity of topics. Beyond scheduling blog posts, the use of an editorial calendar keeps other essential considerations front of mind. Including related information, such as keyword assignments, target persona(s), and associated promotions or calls to action, will make your editorial calendar an indispensable guide to your blogging success.
We’ve created an editorial calendar template to guide your blogging efforts. Designed to keep you on track as you develop content that will attract and engage your prospects and customers, our template (it’s free) will help you map out your content in a strategic manner, maximize productivity, and keep you organized.
![The Girl Scout Cookie Supply Chain [Infographic]](https://www.fronetics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Girl-Scout-Cookie-Supply-Chain-810x675.jpg)
by Fronetics | Jan 15, 2015 | Blog, Marketing, Supply Chain
In 2015 The Girl Scouts launched the “Digital Cookie.” How will this impact the Girl Scout Cookie Supply Chain?
When the Girl Scouts of America began selling their now ubiquitous cookies way back in 1917, their operations were simple: cookies were baked in the ovens of troop members and sold in a high school cafeteria. On a mission to raise enough funds to cover the activities of their Muskogee, Oklahoma-based troop, these first cookie salesgirls unknowingly set the stage for a century-long operation that now includes over 2.8 million Girl Scouts and tops $700 million annually.
Throughout the program’s history, the Girl Scouts have made significant changes to the way they do business. To understand the evolution of their supply chain you have to look not only at the physical growth of the program, but the societal factors that have shaped their manufacturing, distribution, marketing and sales functions throughout the years.
From the cookie program’s modest beginnings in the late 1910s through the 1920s, operations were kept small and simple. Cars weren’t yet pervasive in American cities and towns, and door-to-door sales and delivery of goods were the norm. As such, each local troop of Girl Scouts baked, packaged, and priced their own cookies and then combined marketing and sales functions by going door to door. The 1930s saw the Girl Scouts professionalize their manufacturing operations by partnering with and licensing their first commercial bakery – a move concurrent with the rise of automated and commercial bakeries across the United States.
During World War II, flour, sugar, and butter shortages caused a brief stoppage of Girl Scout cookie production. In the post-war boom though, the Girl Scouts were back in the cookie business, setting up shop outside the shopping malls that had sprung up in the suburbs.
As membership rapidly grew, cookie flavors were narrowed to four types in order to standardize their product for greater manufacturing efficiency. Meanwhile, advancements within the packaging industry proved to be a boon for the marketing and sales of Girl Scout cookies as it brought extension to the shelf-life of their products. The most dramatic shift in operations came in 1978. By that time, the number of commercial bakeries involved in the manufacture of GirlScout cookies had swelled to an unmanageable amount. That year officials made the decision to limit operations to only four bakeries, showing a commitment from the organization to uniform quality, packaging, and distribution (a practice even further evidenced today by their licensing of only two bakeries).
From the 1950s through 2014 the sales and marketing strategy of Girl Scout cookies has remained almost unchanged. Each year, between January and April, thousands of girls and their parents have sold cookies by going door-to-door or by hawking their wares outside local supermarkets.
In 2015, in a move that has significant implications for their supply chain, the Girl Scouts have unveiled a new strategy that is directly influenced by yet another societal shift. “Digital Cookie” enables Girl Scouts to market and sell cookies online.
With Digital Cookie, girls are able to create personalized cookie websites and invite customers to visit their website via an email invitation. Digital Cookie also allows girls to take in-person cookie orders (at a local cookie booth for example) via mobile app.
Additional features of Digital Cookie include: campaign advertising, inventory tracking, and shipping management.
Kelly Parisi, Girl Scouts of the USA chief communications executive, points out that these changes are essential in terms of building leadership skills: “It is all about the girls and building future business leaders. They are learning about e-marketing, managing money and additionally creating their first websites.”
The Digital Cookie will have a significant impact on the organization’s supply chain. Not the least of which is that this year, for the first time, the majority of customers will have cookies delivered directly to them – the option of having a Girl Scout deliver the cookies is only available in select markets.
Hungry? Connect with your local Girl Scout or Girl Scout Troop, or try the free mobile Cookie Finder app for your iPhone or Android phone.
by Fronetics | Jan 15, 2015 | Blog, Marketing, Supply Chain
In 2015 The Girl Scouts launched the “Digital Cookie.” How will this impact the Girl Scout Cookie Supply Chain?
When the Girl Scouts of America began selling their now ubiquitous cookies way back in 1917, their operations were simple: cookies were baked in the ovens of troop members and sold in a high school cafeteria. On a mission to raise enough funds to cover the activities of their Muskogee, Oklahoma-based troop, these first cookie salesgirls unknowingly set the stage for a century-long operation that now includes over 2.8 million Girl Scouts and tops $700 million annually.
Throughout the program’s history, the Girl Scouts have made significant changes to the way they do business. To understand the evolution of their supply chain you have to look not only at the physical growth of the program, but the societal factors that have shaped their manufacturing, distribution, marketing and sales functions throughout the years.
From the cookie program’s modest beginnings in the late 1910s through the 1920s, operations were kept small and simple. Cars weren’t yet pervasive in American cities and towns, and door-to-door sales and delivery of goods were the norm. As such, each local troop of Girl Scouts baked, packaged, and priced their own cookies and then combined marketing and sales functions by going door to door. The 1930s saw the Girl Scouts professionalize their manufacturing operations by partnering with and licensing their first commercial bakery – a move concurrent with the rise of automated and commercial bakeries across the United States.
During World War II, flour, sugar, and butter shortages caused a brief stoppage of Girl Scout cookie production. In the post-war boom though, the Girl Scouts were back in the cookie business, setting up shop outside the shopping malls that had sprung up in the suburbs.
As membership rapidly grew, cookie flavors were narrowed to four types in order to standardize their product for greater manufacturing efficiency. Meanwhile, advancements within the packaging industry proved to be a boon for the marketing and sales of Girl Scout cookies as it brought extension to the shelf-life of their products. The most dramatic shift in operations came in 1978. By that time, the number of commercial bakeries involved in the manufacture of GirlScout cookies had swelled to an unmanageable amount. That year officials made the decision to limit operations to only four bakeries, showing a commitment from the organization to uniform quality, packaging, and distribution (a practice even further evidenced today by their licensing of only two bakeries).
From the 1950s through 2014 the sales and marketing strategy of Girl Scout cookies has remained almost unchanged. Each year, between January and April, thousands of girls and their parents have sold cookies by going door-to-door or by hawking their wares outside local supermarkets.
In 2015, in a move that has significant implications for their supply chain, the Girl Scouts have unveiled a new strategy that is directly influenced by yet another societal shift. “Digital Cookie” enables Girl Scouts to market and sell cookies online.
With Digital Cookie, girls are able to create personalized cookie websites and invite customers to visit their website via an email invitation. Digital Cookie also allows girls to take in-person cookie orders (at a local cookie booth for example) via mobile app.
Additional features of Digital Cookie include: campaign advertising, inventory tracking, and shipping management.
Kelly Parisi, Girl Scouts of the USA chief communications executive, points out that these changes are essential in terms of building leadership skills: “It is all about the girls and building future business leaders. They are learning about e-marketing, managing money and additionally creating their first websites.”
The Digital Cookie will have a significant impact on the organization’s supply chain. Not the least of which is that this year, for the first time, the majority of customers will have cookies delivered directly to them – the option of having a Girl Scout deliver the cookies is only available in select markets.
Hungry? Connect with your local Girl Scout or Girl Scout Troop, or try the free mobile Cookie Finder app for your iPhone or Android phone.
