It is both tougher and easier to market in the Digital Age. This is the dichotomy we face today. And along with the plethora of digital tools available to us now to better our marketing strategies, there is also the added pressure to justify our digital marketing spend.
In this backdrop, it becomes necessary to use digital performance benchmarks that can steer us in the right direction.
Gartner.com says that giants in the digital marketing sphere benchmark their performances against the best brands, which in turn, allows them to give precedence to digital investments that offer the biggest digital marketing opportunities.
The benefits of benchmarking
We often compare ourselves to others in our success, lifestyle, investments, and so on. Benchmarking or comparison, is a significant part of life. After all, how do we know whether whatever we are doing is right unless there is a point of comparison?
In the same way, it is important to also carry out digital benchmarking so that we know that our brand is headed in the right direction. Digital performance benchmarks can gauge our brand health and brand investments, help us make decisions on how to allot digital spending, give us insight into the designing of our strategic objectives, and enhance our digital approach. You can also bet that your competitors are keeping an eye on your brand in the same manner.
So, ultimately what it does is that you are more knowledgeable of your strengths and weaknesses and this gives you the chance to make the necessary adjustments to your brand’s marketing strategy.
Mapping these on digital scorecards will help deal with each metric on its own.
The benchmarks
There are a few methods by which one can benchmark one’s brand, such as through a study of a brand’s social media engagement and following, mobile and web traffic surrounding the brand, click rates on the brand and news and conversations about the brand. Read this article to learn which digital advertising platforms are doing the best for brands.
When benchmarking content the factors that should be looked at are, which types of content perform best, the topics that have the best traction out there and which headlines reach the furthest, how long the content should be, and what kind of content will be shared most on social media platforms.
In social media, the benchmarks are ‘likes’ and comments, but also posts in terms of how many people they have reached, how far your influencers have reached, etc.
Facebook is an excellent tool for benchmarking as well, as it allows you access to key insights on Facebook Insights to watch both your Page’s success as well as your competitor’s. All you need to do is go to Insights, scroll down to the bottom of the page and add the pages you want to keep an eye on. This will also track your competitors’ successes on social media by tracking how many posts they have published, how many people have ‘liked’ them and their engagement, overall. This will enable you to compare their performance against yours.
The Key Performance Index (KPI) is an important part of benchmarking your brand. Marketing KPI Benchmarks will help you determine the success of your brand by tracking various aspects of it.
Website conversion rate is one such indicator. This must be measured by industry, as various industries will see massive gaps in conversion rates based on what they provide. Thus, measuring the website conversion rate within one’s industry will give an accurate picture of how your brand is doing. In a study conducted by Unbounce, the main five industries ranked (starting from the highest) by website conversion rate are Catering and Restaurants, Media and Entertainment, Education, Legal, and finally Events and Leisure, Fitness and Nutrition.
Nexoya.com says that website bounce rate is another important benchmarking factor. This is a good reflection of consumer behaviour and the effectiveness of your website.
Google or Bing?
Google Ads is the tried and tested benchmark, but industry trends show that Bing is now gaining in popularity. While Google Ads statistics provide data on both Display and Search ads, Bing is now gaining ground through an increased number of companies placing their ads with them. In this case, the Bing ads benchmark report contains comprehensive statistics on KPI benchmarks according to industry.
Google Analytics and Bing Webmaster are also excellent tools for following website and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) performance. Knowing which new keywords to target, discovering your SEO link-building opportunities, augmenting your ads and their budget, and observing your competitor’s website performance are areas where, as marketers, we all like to get ahead.
However, these are not your only options. Click here to find out what else is available to you, in terms of digital analytics tools.
Success on a platter
At the end of the day, even if you have the best digital media platforms on which to promote your brand, if you are not monitoring how well it is doing in the marketplace in comparison to your competitors, then it is akin to living under a rock. Monitoring your competition will also give you an idea of what you may be doing wrong with your digital tools and point you in the right direction to adjust and change for better progress.
Benchmarking regularly and continuously should be an integral part of your marketing plan. Knowing where you are will get you faster to where you want to go.
(Anouk De Silva)