The Word for Week 22: Tracking
Meaning: To follow the course or trail of (someone or something).
Insight: Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers
Just by looking at this week’s insight, you’ve probably already figured out where I’m going with this marketing moment.
When you are growing your business database, tracking the actions you take and the activity your subscribers generate will lead you directly to meeting your goals. There a delicate balance in having patience and taking action.
Your database system should help tremendously in keeping you informed. Most email marketing systems or CRMs (Customer Relationship Management Systems) will at minimum give you the basics:
1. Knowing when your message is opened
2. Knowing if links in your message are clicked on
3. Allowing for automatic follow-ups
Depending on your expectations, (remember, the definition I started out with was following the course or trail of someone or something), only you can fill in the blanks, but even with these bare-bones minimum features, you are ahead of the game when it comes to relationship building, if you are tracking the trends and using the data to your advantage.
Even today with the most sophisticated and expensive systems in place, the term “garbage in, garbage out” is just a relevant as when it was first used reportedly in November 1957. You’ve got to get the right information into the system in order to extract the right information from the system.
The keys to knowing you are collecting the right data lies in:
- your goals
- your ideal audience
- your expectations
- your honesty with yourself about the alignment of the previous three bullets
In Summary, if your database is between 0 and 500, not growing, and activity is dormant … consider letting us help you get back on track!
We’ll help you determine if your goals, your audience and your expectations are in alignment with your current CRM system and if you don’t have a system, we’ll make recommendations on what you can do to get things rolling in your direction.
Your Database is your most valuable business asset, and a well-managed database is even more valuable!