Seems simple right? In my experience, dealing with hundreds of clients over the last 12 years, very few can actually quantify what they want.

Some tell me they want marketing help (far too vague), but when I ask about success metrics, they almost invariably cite traffic as their primary success measure. Now, not to discount traffic, but that’s not what pays the bills is it?

ROI shouldn’t be calculated on traffic*, but by counting other other measures. If your aim is engagement, count comments, reviews, buzz. If your aim is sales, count overall revenue increases, direct conversions, increase of average sales…

In an SEM campaign in particular, knowing what you want is vital, because every click costs you. Your campaigns should be highly segmented, helping you know where each dime goes, how each ad performs, how each keyword you’re buying contributes to the goals you’ve set.

Search Engine Guide has an excellent post up today about segmenting your keywords:

There are four distinct keyword segments each representing a different phase of the searcher’s buying cycle. After going through the process above you should be left with one or more groups of keyword that can be optimized into a page or several pages. The next step is to take each group and segment them even further based on those keyword segments.

Once you know what you want, you can do A/B testing to determine where your money’s going and whether or not your plan is working.  Know what you want and you have a heck of a lot better chance at getting it.

*there are a few, rare exceptions to this rule

Supermarket ‘clubs’, like those in place at CVS, Safeway, Publix, and virtually every chain supermarket, save Walmart, already share your data with telemarketers and email marketers.  The swipe saves us a few bucks so we agree… Upromise, by Sallie Mae, has already gotten into big trouble with not disclosing the truckloads of data they collect from their toolbar to their users.  Still college students add that toolbar and hope for the best. WE SHARE TOO MUCH!

A Mashable post on Data Mining in Social Media digs a little deeper, but still not deep enough. They don’t even mention the new iPhone app that’s being called a ‘stalker’s dream’ nor the freaky 123People that lets you check the government documents that other people have filed (or had filed against them).

I’m big on social media, I love it, but this trend toward over-sharing, both purposefully and unintentionally, frightens me.

Grace listed several complaints and I had to keep telling her to stay on track!

Also, note how important food is to them! Each of them included it in their successes…

Cady (12) — The drill sgt got hers out in 2 mins, and then critiqued everyone else’s

Successes

• Got 4 desserts on her field trip today
• Spoke her spanish conversations almost perfectly
• Won Battleship game after school

Needs to Improve

• Falls too much (up the stairs today, landed on her butt Tuesday)
• Shy

Burning Issue

• Objects to being put in the front row during gym

———–
Grace (9)

Successes

• Everyone liked the presents she made for her friend’s birthday
• Had cake after lunch
• Wrote a song on the piano

Needs to Improve

• Talks too fast (ironically she had to repeat this so we could understand it)
• Doesn’t drink all of her drink at lunch (no idea why she wants to improve this)

Burning Issue

• Struggling w/multiplication

————
Jacob (7) — I loved how pithy his responses were. All boy…

Successes

• Didn’t hit anyone today (I guess this is considered a success… LOL That one really made me laugh)
• Got a perfect score on his quiz
• Enjoyed after school snack (then came promptly home and ate a huge bowl of cereal)

Needs to improve

• Patience
• Running in school

Burning Issue

• None

——-
Ruby (4)

Successes

• Enjoyed nap (she never enjoys naptime)
• Ate all of her grapes at lunch

Needs to Improve

• Going to bed without arguing (she got mad at this point and refused to continue—she keeps this up I’m going to have to fire her)

(via Mixergy)