As I write this, it’s my daughter Katie’s birthday. We’ll celebrate and measure the years tonight.  We’ll think about what matters.

It’s also the holiday season. We’ll all give a little thought to what matters most to us. I know I will measure what has mattered to me a bit. 

What matters and what do we measure in business?

Inbound marketing and marketing automation is about doing more for less and follows the same principle discovered by Pareto.  Vilfredo Pareto uncovered a powerful secret hidden in economic statistics: Cause and effect are not in balance. A minority of causes – usually around 20% – produces 80% of results. 

What matters? Do you measure it?

Our client, Bruce Peters, (WCEOhq) works with lots of great SMB’s as an executive consultant. One course of action he leads is 80/20 for Sales and Marketing Strategy.  In it, companies discover (and agree on!) what sales and marketing activities yield the best financial results. And of course, you then act to magnify the 20% of activities that get 80% of the results, and then either improve or cut the 80% of activities that get 20% of the results. The 80/20 Rule is really about measuring what matters.

Know what you want.  Know how to get it. Know the difference between what works great and what barely works at all. Common sense, right?

To reach our goals, we first have to have real meaningful measures of what we do and how well it works. We need to know what matters.

The beauty of Internet Marketing today is that it is far more “measurable” than any form of marketing ever. If you are truly committed to the value of internet marketing and sales enablement, you know that the old saying,  “I know half of my marketing effort is wasted, I just don’t know which half,” is now wrong.

The measurability of inbound marketing techniques provides a clear picture of the path potential (and existing) customers take as you attract, convert, close, and hopefully delight them.  It’s all measureable.  And what you can measure, you can improve for better results. More activity that gets better results. Less time and expense wasted.

That’s always been our mission at Coombs Marketing and it’s why we have taken up “Inbound Marketing” as a major tenet of what we offer. We can measure what matters. And improve it. 

What matters in your business? In your life? Do you have any kind of scorecard about what you are committed to?

Check out Bruce Peters' TED talk, Promises Made, Promises Kept, on this subject.  He offers some very genuine wisdom.  It’s worth it.

And Happy Holidays everyone!

We wish you more and better of everything that matters to you.

To learn more about inbound marketing, download our Essential Step-By-Step Guide to Inbound & Internet Marketing e-book.

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