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With 2019 in our rear view mirror, it is time we reviewed our marketing practices in order to make sure we’re doing the best we can, especially when it comes to our inbound marketing techniques. At the end of every year, it is a good idea to re-evaluate where our companies stand in relation to the ever-changing society.

So how does one evaluate inbound marketing performances? It can be hard to measure your marketing return on investment, but with some experimentation and patience, it can be done well. Measuring ROI helps let you know which channels are working well and which ones aren’t. We’ve discussed that failures are just learning opportunities and an instance for growth. After figuring out what channels may be lagging behind, you know it is time to address the issue and solve the problem.

First things first, you have to gauge ROI based off of each individual channel. When you evaluate the various inbound channels, such as social media, email, website, and so on, you are really assessing people and not just page views. You should always know where people stand in regards to becoming prospects, converting to leads, and then turning into customers. Determining which channels are most effective at each level of conversion is the best way to evaluate where you stand in your current marketing practice. With the right marketing automation software, such as Hubspot or Pardot, you can discover the data you need to know. These sites can help you know from where someone arrived at your website and if they turned into a sales lead. After you know this type of information, you can determine how well your inbound strategy is working and how to systematically improve it channel by channel.

It is also important to look at behaviors and not just numbers. You have to learn more than how many people are visiting your page. You have to ask critical questions like how did that visitor arrive there—email, blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc? Did they exit right after or did they stay and click on some of your calls to action? Yes, numbers are important, but it absolutely vital to know how your customers (or potential customers for that matter) are interacting with the various social sites that lead to your website and how they ultimately engage with your content.

It does not stop there though! Once you have figured all of this information out, you have to actively do something to update and renew. If something is not working, or if leads are not converting to customers, you must revise your marketing strategies.