When it comes to digital marketing, businesses often seek industry benchmarks to gauge the performance and effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. However, finding specific benchmarks for their industry can be challenging. In this article, we'll explore the reasons behind the difficulty in finding industry-specific benchmarks and provide a method to discover the closest information possible.
The Challenge of Finding Specific Benchmarks
1. Diverse Industry Landscape: Each industry has its unique characteristics, target audience, competition, and market dynamics. The diversity among industries makes it difficult to find standardised benchmarks that apply universally.
2. Data Availability: Companies are often reluctant to disclose detailed campaign data, making it challenging to obtain industry-specific benchmarks. Privacy concerns, competitive advantage, and confidentiality may restrict access to relevant data sets.
3. Rapidly Evolving Environment: The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, with new channels, strategies, and technologies emerging. Benchmarks quickly become outdated, requiring frequent updates to provide accurate and relevant information.
4. Varied Objectives and Metrics: Businesses within the same industry may have different goals and metrics for success. Some focus on lead generation, while others prioritise customer acquisition, conversion rates, or return on investment (ROI). This diversity makes it challenging to establish uniform benchmarks.
5. Business Size Matters: Businesses at different stages of their journey will be able to achieve different results. Once you hit critical mass it's a very different game to a newly started business, and that is very different to a huge conglomerate.
A Method to Discover the Closest Information Possible
While finding precise industry-specific benchmarks can be difficult, there are steps you can take to obtain the closest information possible:
1. Analyse General Industry Benchmarks: Start by examining general industry benchmarks that are available [I often use wordstream for example]. These broader benchmarks can provide a starting point for understanding average performance metrics within your industry. However, keep in mind that they may not capture the nuances specific to your business.
2. Leverage Competitive Analysis: Perform a competitive analysis to gain insights into the performance of your competitors' digital marketing efforts. While this data may not be readily available, publicly accessible information such as competitors' online presence, social media engagement, or ad placements can offer valuable insights.
3. Utilise Third-Party Research and Reports: Look for reputable third-party research and reports that provide industry insights and benchmarks. Industry associations, market research firms, and digital marketing publications often release reports that contain valuable data and trends specific to certain industries.
4. Conduct Internal Performance Analysis: Analyse your own campaign performance and establish internal benchmarks based on historical data. By measuring your own progress over time, you can gain a better understanding of your specific industry landscape and set realistic goals based on your past performance.
5. Engage in Industry Networking and Events: Attend industry conferences, networking events, and webinars to connect with peers and industry experts. These interactions can provide valuable insights and allow you to benchmark your strategies against others in your industry.
6. Collaborate with a Knowledgeable Agency: Partnering with a knowledgeable digital marketing agency, such as Silvertip Digital, can provide access to industry insights, benchmarks, and best practices. Leveraging their expertise and experience, they can help you navigate the complexities of your industry and provide valuable benchmarking data specific to your business.
7. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Run a Reality Check: If you want to achieve hyper-growth, you’re not going to have a ROI of 20:1, it’s likely you’re going to lose money initially and then try and gain it back in years to come. Again, a knowledgeable agency should be able to help with this.
Remember, industry benchmarks are not absolute measurements of success. They serve as reference points and benchmarks to compare and assess your performance. The most important factor is to track your own progress over time, strive for continuous improvement, and align your goals with your specific business objectives.
At Silvertip Digital, we understand the challenges of finding precise industry benchmarks. Our team of digital marketing experts can help you navigate the complexities of your industry and provide data-driven insights to benchmark your campaigns effectively. Contact us today to discover how we can elevate your digital marketing performance and guide you toward success.