How do you measure ROI with a social marketing campaign?
Posted by TeamPC on 4 Aug 2017
Why are we so obsessed with making sure that the money we spend represents value? In business, if you don’t secure a tangible return on your monetary investment, it might be judged a waste of time – and certainly something not to be repeated.
If you think about it, you can understand the obsession with ROI. An unprofitable or cash-restricted business can’t really survive, at least in the long term.
An NHS marketing agency can accurately measure ROI
With social marketing it’s a bit different, but still possible to measure ROI. The cost-effectiveness, or the return on investment (ROI), of the intervention should be calculated as part of the outcome evaluation.
Examining and reviewing the overall impact of the social marketing intervention, and assessing what has been achieved at key milestones, whatever they might be, is hugely important and entirely feasible with the appropriate research.
This might quantify or substantiate the need for future projects, persuade the powers that be that their money has been well spent, and/or be important in judging the actual merits of using social marketing in the first place.
There’s no doubt about it, judging a return on investment when it comes to changing behaviours is not as easy when reviewing a social marketing intervention.
How do you judge value for money?
It’s the impact of the intervention that is really important with social marketing, ie: how effective has the project been in encouraging, motivating and securing social improvement/change across target groups. Quantify the value of a successful intervention where possible. What is the cost of the target audience using a primary healthcare service, how often (on average have they used per month/annum), has their change in behaviour resulted in a reduction is usage of primary care? If so, quantify the cost/benefit saving to the NHS to demonstrate a campaign’s ROI.
If you have managed to secure even a modest change in people’s behaviour, leading to measurable improvements in people’s lives, then surely this is also a significant ROI.
While views and opinions can help when evaluating ROI, you should always focus on actual quantifiable data. It’s only then that you can get to grips with how financially successful the intervention has been. And that might be a good foundation for making a strong case for continued funding.
We’re Perfect Circle – an open and honest social marketing agency that delivers life changing behavioural change campaigns.
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