Are you an RIA who has embraced digital marketing as an essential part of your practice? If so, you recognize how valuable a consistently executed digital marketing program can be for your practice and to stay in touch with clients and reach new prospects.

Yet, many RIAs committed to digital marketing may be missing out on one of the most critical aspects of their platform, analyzing the results of their efforts. After all, the beauty of marketing a practice using digital tools like email and social media is that results can be measured.

Knowing which programs are winning and those underperforming allows you to tweak your strategies so that your time and money are producing the best outcomes. Here are some best practices for analyzing and refining your digital marketing efforts.

Review Your Priorities

It is good to consider your original goals when analyzing your marketing results. For example, do you want more people downloading a piece of content? Or, do you want to convert more prospects into qualified leads? If your objectives change, so should your digital programs.

Refine Your Strategy

As you analyze the performance of your programs, some refinement may be necessary. Make changes to achieve your marketing goals by doing less of what doesn’t work and more of what does work. You should also adjust the programs that don’t work, so they perform better.

Define Metrics to Track and Report On

To optimize your marketing efforts, you will want to monitor several key metrics, including:

• Website - Instantly find out the strengths and weaknesses across your website. Hubspot’s Website Grader report will reveal information about where you need to make improvements or adjustments.
• Traffic - Track how many visitors are coming to your website. Look into what channel drove the most and least visits. Take that knowledge, make iterations, and launch campaigns to increase visits.
• Leads - Review how much traffic is converting into qualified leads and potential clients. Your lead count should constantly be growing. If it’s not, you might need to revise your content strategy.
• Website - You should always be mapping your campaigns and channels to client acquisition. Track your new client counts month-to-month to learn which programs have the most significant impact.
• Client Acquisition Cost - How much are you investing in attracting and converting new clients, and where are your dollars allocated? Following your metrics will help tell you where you need to increase your spending and where you should cut costs.
• New vs. Repeat Visitors - How many visitors are returning to your site, and how many new prospects are finding you? Both types of visitors are essential. If metrics show visits are declining on either, that is a sign adjustment may be necessary.
• Effectiveness by Channel - Analyze the promotion channels or referring sources generating the most traffic. Focus on long-term results, not short-term spikes in traffic activity.

Steps for Improvement

After you have reviewed and analyzed the results of your digital marketing programs, you will want to make adjustments, and there are several key areas to focus on.

• Keywords - Try new keywords or variations of keywords to see if they help improve organic traffic. Remember, don’t overpack with too many keywords and consider long-tail (multiple-word) keywords as well.
• SEO - Changing a simple on-page SEO factor can help boost visits. Experiment with page titles, meta descriptions, and headings. As a simple test, try switching just one page title and see if it makes a difference.
• Conversions - Modify your conversion forms or landing pages. For example, change the layout by switching the placement of a form. Or consider changing the image.
• Content - Your metrics will tell you if your content is working. If you are expecting better results, try expanding the range of topics you cover and changing the tone.
• Social Media - You may be getting good results from your social media platforms, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider other channels. You might also want to boost your SEM spending if it proves successful.

Remember, digital marketing can be a powerful approach to growing your practice. Just don’t forget to analyze and refine your results to keep your programs operating at peak levels.

To learn more about how to grow your practice in a digital world visit the Inland Academy below.