What Is Outcome-Based Marketing and Why You Should Be Doing It

The term “outcome-based marketing” might seem redundant—after all, don’t we always want to achieve outcomes from our marketing campaigns?

Although CEOs might understand what they want from a marketing strategy, they often fail to get specific enough to set practical goals. So here’s what you need to know about putting your marketing expectations.

What Is Outcome-Based Marketing?

When thinking about 
marketing outcomes
, most business owners are thinking about results-based marketing rather than outcome-based marketing. These “results” include increased website visits, more sales, or social media buzz.

While these things are nice, they’re not specific enough to tell us if our marketing campaigns are effective. For example, you might have more website visits overall, but what pages do people visit once they arrive? What products are selling the most? Are those social media followers converting? In short, are you gaining quality customers?

As the name suggests, outcome-based marketing will achieve outcomes, not just results. The difference is subtle, but it’s essential. Results-based marketing is general: you launch a marketing campaign, cast a wide net, and then track your results. But these results don’t tell the whole story.

Outcome-based marketing is specialized: you decide on the specific outcome you want and tailor your campaigns to achieve it. Some examples of good outcomes include:

• Phone calls or email inquiries allow you a touchpoint with a potential customer
• Sales on a specific product or service you want to promote
• Reviews from happy customers
• Repeat customer purchases

These outcomes will help you identify customer behavior over time.

Outcome-Based Marketing Activities in Business

Business owners often express the desire for results like brand awareness and recognition. Of course, these things are essential to pursue. However, it would be best to focus on outcomes like phone calls, inquiries, purchases, and other overt actions. If you want to implement outcome-based marketing in your business, here are 3 ways to get started.

1. Get specific. What exactly do you want to see from your outcome-based marketing? It’s not enough to say “more sales.” Do you want to engage repeat customers? To book consultations? To get more reviews? Narrow down what action you want your customer to take once they connect with your brand.
2. Measure the correct data. It’s not enough to track website hits or sales numbers. Advanced analytics allow you to see the website pages customers visit before purchasing, how long they stay on each page, and where their eyes are drawn to the page—other details to help you dig into the effectiveness of your marketing.
3. Keep evolving. Good marketing doesn’t stop once you launch a campaign. It’s constantly making data-backed improvements to your website and overall strategy. Don’t be afraid to try new things once you notice patterns emerging in your data.

Are you looking to give your marketing strategy a makeover? Click here to receive my free 21-step marketing guide, then let’s schedule a call to help you implement an effective outcome-based marketing plan in your business.

Coach Dave