Finding out which marketing channels generate sales takes a three-step cycle: test, learn, optimise. Start with a stated assumption about a channel, then run posts with UTM links and track conversions in Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager. Compare traffic volume against lead quality, then reallocate effort to what converts.
What if you had an approach that let you test your messaging, track performance, and learn exactly what resonates with your audience across Instagram, LinkedIn, or email? AND any other channel you’re on. What if you knew which marketing channels generated your highest leads and sales?
Here’s how I approach it.
Step 1: Test
We start with a clear assumption about what we think will work. For example, an assumption might be, “I think LinkedIn drives higher volumes of traffic than Instagram, and this audience is of a higher quality.”
Once we’ve defined our assumption, we move into testing and experimenting. Here’s some tips for what we do and we test this assumption.
The action:
- Increase posting frequency across both channels, ensuring that every post includes a link back to your website (preferably using UTM links to track performance).
- For Instagram, increase link placements in your stories since we’re limited in not being able to add links in posts.
- Experiment with different messages, offers, or creatives across both platforms. The key here is to keep the overall theme the same but tailor the messaging to each platform to see what resonates best.
Step 2: Learn
While we’re running our tests, we monitor the performance of the data we’re collecting. Where do you collect all this wonderful marketing data, make sure you’ve got FREE tools like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager configured. Ensure you’re tracking conversions in Google Tag Manager so that you can see exactly what messaging, and which channels are driving email sign-ups, leads, and best of all, sales!!
In the learning stage, we’re collecting and analysing our data. In real time. We need to be able to adapt and make improvements, and optimisations in real-time. This is where you’re able to have a real impact and see improved results.
When we analyse our data we want to know did one platform outperform the others? Was a particular message more effective at driving traffic, email sign-ups, leads, or purchases? And here’s the key, who was it resonating with? What does that audience look like? Their age, interests, buying habits, psychographics?
At this stage, we ask ourselves questions. This is how we start to build the stories our data tells us! So what questions should you ask?
- Did LinkedIn really drive more traffic, or was Instagram just as effective?
- Which platform’s audience engaged more with the content? Was it LinkedIn’s professional, small business owner crowd or Instagram’s more casual, visual audience?
- Did one messaging style or offer resonate more than the other?
- What were the behavioral trends of each audience group when they arrived on our website? What did they look at? What did they do?
In this phase, we go beyond just surface-level results. We look for insights. For example, if LinkedIn brought in more traffic but the quality of leads were lower (e.g. lower engagement or conversion on page), it tells us that LinkedIn was doing its job driving clicks, but we may need to refine our messaging to better qualify our audience, and review the website user experience and content to better qualify leads prior to them taking the action of booking a call (as an example). Alternatively, if Instagram leads were higher quality but fewer in number, that tells us we might need to invest more into this channel to drive higher volumes of traffic and better explore this audience and the messaging/content that drove these high-quality leads for better long-term results.
The goal is to learn exactly what worked, and just as importantly, what didn’t.
Step 3: Optimise
Now that we’ve got the learnings, we move into optimisation. This is where we adapt our approach to maximise what’s working and adjust what isn’t.
- For LinkedIn: If you see more traffic but lower-quality leads, we’d review your messaging to look at how we could better qualify your audience through your content and messaging based on your anecdotal finding of low-quality leads. Why are they considered low quality? Target that in your content. We’d also assess your website’s on-page experience for improvements and how we could better qualify your audience before submitting a lead. There is SO much that goes into this stage. It’s bloody awesome, and the impact can be HUGE.
- For Instagram: If Instagram’s audience responded well but you didn’t see enough reach, we might post more frequently in Stories, collaborate with strategic partners, or test ads to broaden your audience reach and test wider audience groups to better bring in like-minded audience groups, and better define your audience on this platform, while testing the effectiveness of paid traffic. It’s all about refining, testing, learning, and improving. Rinse and repeat!
This loop of testing, learning, and optimising is continuous. We keep refining, making small tweaks to improve performance each time, based on data-driven insights.
Once we know what worked (and what didn’t), we adjust our marketing strategy. Lean into the areas that deliver the best results, whether that’s focusing on channel placement, audience targeting, content and messaging, or points in your buyer’s journey that are creating barriers, we identify them and apply tests to address them.
Where something doesn’t quite land, either we tweak it or test a new approach entirely. This is an ongoing cycle, Test, Learn, and Optimise, rinse and repeat! It’s how we evolve and improves our marketing over time; AND how we shift from saying “I think Instagram drives quality traffic to generate qualified leads” to “I know Instagram is a great channel to generate quality traffic who have a high conversion rate to sign up to our email list, then when mixed with email, and an optimised on-page website experience, these prospective customers come back through email as high-quality traffic who convert to qualified leads.” Whew that was a lot of words!
It’s the best feeling when have confidence in your approach to marketing, and you know where to focus your time, effort, and money for the best returns, this is what happens when you stop guessing in your marketing.
If you’d like to better understand how I can help you and your business to better test, learn and optimise your messaging, I’d love to chat. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to review your current marketing activities book a free 30-minute discovery call and let’s chat about how data can better inform you approach to marketing!
