As a somewhat healthy and active guy, I pay attention to — and sometimes shake my head at — product packaging that boasts “40 percent less fat” or “all natural ingredients.” When you look at the fine print, it tells a more complete story. Yes, there might be a percentage less fat, but there might also be twice the carbs. And last time I checked, there are lots of sugars that could be classified as “all natural.” So, while you might think you’re eating a healthy snack, it really could just be an illusion.

When you try to measure the success of your marketing campaigns, are you looking at the fine print or are you mesmerized by the flashy sunburst graphics on the front of the box?

Case in point: Have you ever had this conversation with your marketing team after a campaign has been running for a while?

You: How’s the campaign performing?

Team: It’s going great! We surpassed our sales numbers for the quarter!

You: That’s terrific! So how many of the closed deals can we track back to the campaign?

Team: Ummm… well, sales are up, so it must have been well received. Let’s celebrate!

Unless you dig into the results of your campaigns, keep the champagne on hold. While this logic seems to work in this instance, what if the tables are turned?

You: How’s the campaign performing?

Team: It’s terrible. Sales numbers are down. I just don’t know why the campaign didn’t work.

You: Did they not click through? Were there no conversions? Did anyone use the QR code to find out more information?

Team: Ummm… well, sales are down, so it obviously didn’t work. Let’s plan the next one and hope it gets better results.

Hoping it gets better results? That’s like buying the Hawaii Chair and hoping it will help you get in shape. You’ve got to do some work to find out how your campaigns are really performing and what is and isn’t working. When you just look at the revenue numbers, it can lead to lots of finger pointing between sales and marketing.

How can you be sure your marketing really is healthy? To avoid the illusion that your marketing is working, when it might not be, here are four tips for analyzing your marketing campaigns:

1. Select a method to track initial activity – clicks, views, conversions, etc. Take advantage of tracking codes, customized URLs, QR codes and more.
2. Decide what measures you’ll use to gauge success. My recommendation is to look beyond simple clicks. Conversions can be a much more useful measure. There could be other indicators that work for your organization. Find those and use them!
3. Tie the initial activity to what happens further down the sales cycle. This gives you a great idea of what campaign assets or messaging is resonating with potential customers. If you can tie a campaign to a sale, it gives you a nice template to develop other campaigns.
4. Watch the metrics and be ready to act! Turn up the volume on campaigns that are working and be ready to tweak things if the numbers aren’t looking good.

At the end of the day, marketers want to prove that their campaigns were effective. But there are lots of ways to be effective. Maybe the campaign didn’t close business, but it moved a good portion of prospects along the sales cycle. Maybe the result was increased awareness. Or maybe it was the catalyst to get a signed contract. By understanding what’s going on with your campaigns, you’ll make sure that marketing is helping drive the business forward.