You “do” marketing for your box, but do you really know exactly how effective each dollar is being spent to drive profits?
So you wanna run a facebook ad to women between the ages of 32-41?
Well, if you put together an ad campaign spend a couple hundred dollars and have some people reach out, then it was effective right? The next logical thing is to run it again.
Maybe…or maybe you’re losing money.
One thing is always going to be true. Data tells the real story, and the more refined data you have the better your marketing efforts will be. Which really means bigger margins, lower marketing costs, and less time you need to input for more money.
Marketing is the oxygen to your business. Whether you realize that or not, it’s critical. I’m not going to go into all the levels and channels that are involved, but in order to grow and improve your margins, marketing needs some focus. This article will foster that focus.
And i’m definitely not advocating you turning into a marketing professional, no. The purpose of this is to hopefully show you that there is more information you should be looking for with your marketing costs.
Some gym owners just don’t know what to look for or where to start.
The information I share with you will help you get focused on the right metrics and start tracking the most quintessential data.
Your Base Metrics- C.L.D.R.
So what should you be tracking to find out if you’re really making money off of your marketing dollars? There are four fundamental metrics that will help you gage quickly how well something is performing and what should be improved. I would just use a spreadsheet to calculate these because then we can get deeper data with formulas and fancy equations.
First is going to be your cost. How much did it cost you to run that campaign or activity.
Second you need to track your leads. This will vary based on how you’ll define a lead. Could be a phone call, or someone sending an email, or maybe a text. The bottom line is you captured their information.
Third you’ll need to track how many closed deals you had. When a lead reaches out and transacts with you, they are now considered a closed deal.
Fourth is your revenue. How much did that deal close for. If it’s a regular monthly membership for $150 per month then I suggest adding $1,800 as the total annual revenue.
These four metrics are the structure of your marketing analysis. But that is only the beginning. From here you can add much more data, like conversion rates, cost per lead, cost per deal, average deal value, ROI and so on.
Your Campaign
Think of the last marketing campaign you just ran, or are currently running. Is it to sign up for a foundations class, personal training, or to join barbells for boobs? Which ever campaign you ran or are still running you’ll need to focus on the most important data that will essentially help you find out if it was a success or a flop.
So, here is an example that you might resonate with. It’s a typical marketing activity that we see from our box owner clients- running a Facebook ad for a new class.
So let’s stick to your basic hypothetical costs to run this particular 4 week campaign. Let’s say you are promoting a 3 month foundational Class for $90/month and the story is as follows after 4 weeks:
FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN (scenario #1)
Costs:
$300.00
Leads:
8
Deals:
2
Revenue:
$540.00
Now we’ve got to determine how effective this was right? Did we make money, did we lose money, or was it a wash?
This isn’t a trick question and your gut reaction is right. You’ve made $240. That is an 80% Return on Investment.
You can also track that you had a 25% conversion rate, your cost per lead is $37.50, cost per acquisition for a deal is $150 and so much more. Not to mention now you can determine where to put an emphasis based on the numbers, Like we only closed 25%, do we need to improve our sales conversations?
So not bad…you made $240.
As far as the superficial marketing goes, it’s working, but you’ll also need to consider if that is a big enough margin and ROI for you and your own gym.
If you are analysing your marketing dollars and have a dedicated tracking system you are above and beyond other small business owners. Just this little bit of information will help you make precise decisions about where you spend your money and how much you can afford to put into your marketing machine.
So if you’re not tracking information, that is your first step.
But let’s look at another example and see what we come up with.
Same marketing activity and we’ll change the numbers up a bit, and now run the ad for three months. After 3 months:
FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN (scenario #2)
Costs:
$900.00
Leads:
18
Deals:
4
Revenue:
$1,080.00
What do we learn?
Looks like you made $180. Was it effective?
Obviously you can see the cost to revenue margin is much smaller, but what does that really mean? An important metric to always consider is your Cost per Acquisition (CPA).
The first example had a $150 CPA.
This example has a $225 CPA.
That means it cost you $225 to acquire 1 deal. That is $75 more than your first month. Which means your campaign is trending in the wrong direction. Costing you more and becoming less effective.
Ok, so you’ve reviewed your numbers and need to tweak the ad and improve the sales call.
After 6 months and some fine tuning the results are in. After 6 months:
FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN (scenario #3)
Costs:
$1,800.00
Leads:
50
Deals:
26
Revenue:
$7,020.00
Now, you should really like what you see. But what stands out to you?
You converted 52% of your leads, your CPA went down to $69.23 and your ROI is 290%! Which means for every dollar you spent on this campaign you made back $3.90.
When you break it down, it is easy to see how effective each marketing activity is or isn’t.
Profit Like It’s Hot
Again, I’m trying to help you focus on profits and running a healthier box. You’re going to be spending money on marketing, it is so important you track everything so you know if it is something you should put more money into or if you drop it like it’s hot.
Too many Affiliate owners have a “brilliant” idea to promote CrossFit _________. They FEEL like the promo was a success, but they don’t ever track it to really KNOW. So they decide to do the same thing again and again, or try something new.
There is too many side things not producing the profits and money you need to live a better life-one with less stress and anxiety, but more fulfillment knowing you are making the money you deserve.
So, I suggest you start tracking your marketing numbers and start living more confidently with those expenses from your business.