Successful marketing ROI doesn’t come with the press of a button or the flip of a switch. It requires careful and strategic planning. It also requires setting realistic marketing ROI expectations that enable you to properly plan and evaluate your campaigns. We’ve written this article to be a quick and simple reference to help you ensure your marketing ROI expectations are realistic and achievable. This should help you better evaluate your marketing strategy and goals.

Realistic Marketing ROI Expectations

It takes time.

Good marketing ROI doesn’t happen overnight. It can be months before you know whether a particular campaign is profitable. How long it will take depends on a number of factors, including the length of your buyer’s journey, what your call-to-action is, and your marketing budget (and associated frequency). A long-term but flexible strategy, paired with the right audience and a solid frequency are critical to achieve a good return on your investment.

It costs money.

Marketing is an investment. The fact of the matter is this… the more you invest, the higher the potential returns. This does not mean you have to spend as much as McDonald’s or Coca Cola to get a ROI, but it does mean you shouldn’t throw your money away with a brief, ineffective campaign that isn’t going to get you any traction. We always suggest to small businesses that save up their marketing dollars to invest in a longer campaign on one platform (and therefore the same audience), versus randomly spending money in different places.

It takes focus.

As touched on above, the “spray and pray” approach is not a plan for success. Successful marketing is focused on a target audience. Make a decision about the type of creative you want to include in your marketing plan to connect with your potential customers. Deploying too many different types of messages, in too many places can be confusing. By focusing on what your target audience needs and wants, you can increase ROI.

It takes strategy.

Good marketing ROI comes from strategic planning. This is something we can’t say enough: Your marketing strategy needs to be tied to your business goals. In addition, you need to ensure that you are reaching the right customer, at the right time, on the right platform… and doing that means you start with goals, a strategy, and a plan.

It takes collaboration and communication.

Work closely with your partners to collaborate on the best marketing strategy to maximize ROI. Make certain you are all on the same page in terms of your goals and expectations for your marketing campaigns.

Keeping your marketing ROI expectations realistic will help you make good decisions about what’s working and what isn’t. Staying focused on your target audience and being patient are both essential to keeping expectations realistic.