Why Bother with Weird Marketing?
Before we dive into the metrics, let’s acknowledge why marketers even venture into the territory of the strange and unusual. In a world saturated with advertising, it’s increasingly difficult to cut through the noise. Weird marketing offers a unique advantage: it’s memorable. It generates buzz, sparks conversations, and, if executed well, can lead to exponential growth. However, without proper tracking, it’s just a shot in the dark, a potentially expensive and ultimately ineffective gamble.
The Essential Toolkit: Defining Your Metrics for Weirdness
The first step in measuring the success of your unconventional marketing is to define your key performance indicators (KPIs) before you launch your campaign. These should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Here’s a breakdown of metrics to consider:
Brand Awareness: Beyond Simple Impressions
While impressions are a standard metric, they don’t tell the whole story. Focus on:
- Social Listening Mentions: Track how often your brand is mentioned online, especially in relation to your weird marketing campaign. Tools like Mention, Brandwatch, and Google Alerts can be invaluable.
- Share of Voice (SOV): Calculate your brand’s mentions compared to your competitors. A successful weird campaign should significantly increase your SOV.
- Brand Sentiment Analysis: Is the buzz positive, negative, or neutral? Analyzing sentiment helps you understand the impact of your campaign on brand perception. Use sentiment analysis tools or manually review comments and mentions.
- Direct Website Traffic: Did the campaign drive more organic traffic to your website? Monitor changes in website traffic using Google Analytics.
Engagement: Are People Actually Interacting?
Engagement metrics go beyond simple views. They measure how actively people are interacting with your content:
- Social Media Engagement: Likes, shares, comments, and saves are crucial indicators of how well your weird campaign resonated with your audience. Track engagement rates (engagement divided by impressions) to compare performance across different platforms.
- Time on Page/Video Completion Rate: If your campaign involves video or website content, monitor how long people are spending with your content. A high completion rate suggests strong engagement.
- Contest Entries/Participation: If your weird marketing involves a contest or interactive element, track the number of entries and participants.
- User-Generated Content (UGC): Did your campaign inspire people to create their own content related to your brand? UGC is a powerful indicator of engagement and brand loyalty.
Lead Generation & Conversions: The Ultimate Goal
Ultimately, most marketing campaigns aim to generate leads and drive conversions. Tracking these metrics is essential for proving ROI:
- Lead Capture Rate: How many people who interacted with your campaign became leads? Use tracking pixels and UTM parameters to attribute leads to specific campaigns.
- Conversion Rate: How many leads converted into paying customers? Track conversion rates throughout your sales funnel to identify areas for improvement.
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Calculate the cost of acquiring a new customer through your weird marketing campaign. Compare this to your average CAC and other marketing channels.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): For paid weird marketing campaigns, track your ROAS by dividing the revenue generated by the campaign’s cost.
Unconventional Metrics: Embrace the Weird
For truly unique and unconventional campaigns, you might need to create custom metrics to capture their impact:
- “Water Cooler” Effect: Did your campaign become a talking point? Track mentions in mainstream media (TV, radio, newspapers) and assess the overall buzz generated.
- Virality Score: Develop a scoring system based on factors like shares, mentions, and media coverage to quantify the virality of your campaign.
- Customer Delight Index: Measure customer satisfaction related to the campaign through surveys and feedback forms. Did it leave customers feeling delighted and surprised?
Tools of the Trade: Tech to Track the Trippy
You don’t have to rely on guesswork. Several tools can help you track the success of your weird marketing:
- Google Analytics: Track website traffic, user behavior, and conversions.
- Social Media Analytics: Use native analytics tools (e.g., Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics) to track engagement on social media platforms.
- Marketing Automation Platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo): Track leads, conversions, and customer behavior.
- Social Listening Tools (e.g., Mention, Brandwatch): Monitor brand mentions and sentiment online.
- UTM Parameters: Use UTM parameters to track the source of traffic to your website.
Case Study: A Weird Marketing Win (and How They Tracked It)
Imagine a hypothetical company, “Socksational,” selling… you guessed it, socks. They launched a campaign where they randomly mailed socks to celebrities known for their quirky fashion sense. Each sock contained a QR code leading to a landing page with a personalized message from Socksational. They tracked:
- Number of Celebrities Posting: How many celebrities actually posted photos or videos of the socks on social media.
- Social Media Reach: The total reach of those celebrity posts.
- Website Traffic Spikes: Did the campaign correlate with a surge in website traffic?
- Sales of Specific Sock Styles: Did the styles worn by celebrities experience a sales boost?
By carefully tracking these metrics, Socksational was able to demonstrate a significant return on investment, proving that their weird celebrity sock stunt was a resounding success.
The Final Verdict: Embrace Data-Driven Weirdness
Weird marketing isn’t just about being outrageous for the sake of it. It’s about crafting memorable experiences that drive business results. By carefully defining your KPIs, tracking the right metrics, and using the appropriate tools, you can prove the value of your unconventional ideas and hack your way to growth. So, embrace the weird, but do it with data on your side. After all, even mad scientists need a well-documented lab book.
