The Many Faces of ROI: It’s About More Than Money
Is your marketing actually worth the effort?
Is it bringing you a return on your investment?
If these questions have been lurking at the back of your brain, let’s go pull them into the light and address them!
With LinkedIn making some of the biggest changes to its platform in years, now feels like exactly the right moment to talk about what's working, what's changed, and how to make sure your marketing is actually earning its place.
Sound Familiar?
Over the past few weeks, we've been speaking with a number of business owners who are all saying something similar.
They're busy, their business is ticking along, and new clients are coming in. But when they stop to think about it, most of that work is coming through referrals and word of mouth. And so, the questions start nagging away:
If my new business is coming from recommendations, what's the point of social media?
Why am I paying for it, or spending time on it, if I can't see it directly bringing anything in?
It's a really fair question. We completely understand why it leads some people to quietly step back from their marketing, or stop posting altogether.
Here's the important point to note: referrals are brilliant, but they're not something you can control or predict. Even when they do happen, you want them to land, because when someone recommends you the first thing the other person does is look you up online. What they find needs to reassure them, reflect what you do, and give them the confidence to get in touch.
The two work together.
To really understand what your marketing is giving you back, it's worth taking a closer look at ROI, because it might not look the way you'd expect.
😶🌫️ Pssst! - If this sounds like where you are right now, a free marketing review call could be exactly what you need. Book your free call here.
ROI Isn't Always About Money
When people hear "ROI" they often think purely in financial terms, but in marketing, especially for small businesses, the return can show up in lots of different ways:
👤 A new follower who becomes a paying client six months down the line
📄 A blog post that quietly keeps bringing people to your website long after you wrote it
📩 An email that someone forwards to a friend who then gets in touch
💚 A social post that starts a conversation, which leads to a discovery call
These are all returns on your investment of time and effort. The key is learning to recognise them for what they are.
And what about the social media lurker?
You know the ones.
They're quietly reading every post you put out, watching what you share, getting a feel for who you are and what you do. They never like, they never comment, but one day, completely out of the blue, they land in your inbox ready to work with you. You had absolutely no idea they were even paying attention!
It happens more than you'd think. It's a good reminder that engagement metrics don't tell the whole story. The absence of likes and comments doesn't mean nobody is watching. Many people simply prefer to observe before they reach out, and that's their process.
Your job is to keep showing up so that when they're ready, it's you they think of.
So, next time a post gets little reaction, don't be too quick to write it off. Your lurkers are watching. 👀
What Should You Actually Be Tracking?
You don't need to drown in data, but here are a few clear things are worth keeping an eye on regularly:
Direct enquiries
Are people getting in touch? And when they do, are you asking them how they heard about you? The answer is often more revealing than any metric.
Website visits
Are people finding you, and is that number growing over time? Look at where your traffic is coming from, whether it's social, search or email.
Email open and click rates
Are your newsletters being read? Is your list growing? A warm, engaged email audience is one of the most valuable things a small business can build.
Google Business Profile actions
How many people clicked to call you, visited your website, or asked for directions from your profile? These are real intent signals from people actively looking for what you offer.
Direct messages
Don't overlook the quiet enquiries that come in through social media inboxes. Someone asking a question is a warm lead, even if they never liked a single post.
Referrals
Is anyone mentioning that they found you through something they read or saw? Word of mouth driven by your content counts as ROI too.
Social media metrics, such as likes, comments, reach and impressions, are worth a glance but, as we mentioned above, they don't tell the whole story. Remember the lurkers. The most important question isn't "did this post get likes?" - it's "is my marketing bringing the right people closer to getting in touch?"