How to Measure Your Marketing Programs to Improve Results

Most of my marketing strategy clients have one ultimate goal: to increase sales. Still, sales growth isn't the only important measurement. Here are four other areas to evaluate to measure your marketing success:

Lead Quality. It's tempting to focus on the quantity of leads while ignoring their quality. But one quality lead could be worth the cost of your entire marketing program where other campaigns that yield high numbers may not produce any sales at all.
Relationship Building. Did you generate good will or otherwise improve your relationships with customers and prospects?
Brand Building. Were you consistent with your existing brand and did your efforts strengthen your value proposition in the market place?
Marketing Insight. Did you learn anything new about the markets you serve? Can you create new offerings or jettison old services that don't suit your market or your brand any longer?

While you can't always quantify branding, client relationships and market insights, they always go hand in hand with a good marketing campaign and ultimately (you guessed it) increase sales.