Measuring Performance!
– Stephen Few
“Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.”
As a content creator, the most important lesson I learned was, “If you are creating content without an understanding of what your KPI is and how you are going to measure it, then all of the efforts that you are putting in is a waste”.
Most of what I learned about digital marketing was by trial and error. I learned things as I did things.
My beginning on the Internet was interesting. I am probably one of those lucky few who was able to make the first dollar on the internet pretty fast and early.
So I never realized the importance of building an email list or, measuring performance.
It was after I lost my money making websites to a bubble burst, that I figured out that I needed to build an email list.
But that realization was only until that. I didn’t know what I was going to do with the email list.
I started building my email list.
I managed to build it up to 90,000 subscribers (Very few creators had such a huge list then).
Auto-responder costs very pretty high. I was paying a lot of money to my auto-responder as well.
But what was I doing with this list?
Nothing!
Absolutely nothing!
After a few months of paying, I realized that I was burning a hole in my pocket.
And it was then that it dawned upon me that I needed to earn from the list I had built. I had to ensure that it takes care of the auto-responder cost at least.
So I made some very strange decisions.
One of them was to run SOLO ads.
Solo ads are basically, cold advertisement emails that you send your subscribers on behalf of somebody else, who has agreed to pay you a specific price in exchange for using your email to build their list.
It isn’t the best business around but people who have huge lists are in the business of SOLO ads.
With the kind of list I had, I was making good money. Imagine being paid $50 for 100 clicks.
I ran SOLO ads for more than 4 months.
The end result?
A lot of money and a dead, burnt-out email list!
By the end of the 4th month, I had lost my entire email list.
The amount of money I made was good. I could categorize it as a profitable venture.
But I lost a huge email list that I had spent months building.
So if I do a quick P&L account, the result would be a loss in spite of me making a good amount of money.
The story of a lot of creators around is very similar.
While they might be calling themselves profitable, are they really profitable?
Are they considering the opportunity cost, when they are deriving their profitability?
I doubt!
It is exactly the same problem I went through.
I had no plan. I had no goals. I didn’t know what I wanted to achieve and how I was going to measure it. I had no KPIs that I was tracking.
If you don’t know what your performance indicators are and how you are going to measure them, then all of the efforts you are putting into your content is a waste.
Before it is too late, decide on what you want to achieve with your podcast, blogs, social media, etc.
Identify what your success measure is and where is it that you can get the data from.
Then start measuring it. Take corrective actions wherever necessary.
Keep in mind that understanding analytics isn’t about drowning in a sea of numbers—it’s about navigating your way to insights that matter.
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
– W. Edwards Deming
Here are some simple tips that you can use:
- Define Clear Objectives: Start by defining your objectives. Set specific goals for your content. Are you aiming for engagement, brand awareness, leads, or conversions?
- Identify the metrics: Metrics can be different for different objectives. For eg: measuring likes, shares, comments or, time spent could be an engagement metric. Conversion metrics could be subscribers, sales, or even followers. Be very specific on what metrics you want to track
- Pick the right tools: You might want to pick a tool that can give you the right and reliable data, that is easy to use, and that you are comfortable using. Tools can be native platform tools, or third-party tools like Google Analytics, Chartable, etc.
- Use the data to make decisions: Making corrective decisions is an important part of growth. So use the data wisely and take corrective decisions wherever required.
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Found on the internet
Here’s what I found on the internet this week.
Jay is a creator unlike anybody else. His advice, philosophies, etc. are different. But I have never found myself disagreeing to anything that he professes.
This post is one such post. In fact, after reading this, I felt as if I had written it.
If you are a creator, you are sure to relate to this Tweet from Josh!
What am I reading?
The week is going to be a hectic one for me especially because it is Onam. And we Keralites are crazy when it comes to celebrating Onam.
This time round we have planned a 3 days celebration at home.
Everything is out of whack when it comes to schedules.
But then sometimes it is fun to not follow a schedule. Isn’t it?
I am still stuck reading “Essentialism“. I am hoping to finish it by next week though!
That’s it for this week!
Do let me know your thoughts, feedback, and opinion about this newsletter.
