Free Marketing Tracker for makers & artists!

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If you’re a maker or artist you may not realise how much data is in the various tools that you use which could help make your marketing easier. Today, we’re looking at the FREE tools you can use to help you track and analyse your data from the various platforms you’re using, and how to use that data to make better marketing decisions!

What does the marketing tracker do?

This marketing tracker is made for handmade businesses and artists to keep track of their instagram, facebook, pinterest and website data in one handy spot.
It’s a google drive spreadsheet that you enter information into on a weekly basis. If you’re a pen and paper kinda kid, there’s an analogue version for you too… choose what tickles your fancy!

The tracker is designed to help you keep all your top level insights in one place, and by adding to it weekly you are slowly building yourself a resource combining all your different tools data into one place, rather than having it all scattered throughout different apps.
But there’s another purpose for the tracker. By manually entering the information every Monday (or whatever day works for you) you are sitting down and committing 15 mins to analysing what’s working in your marketing and what’s not. The process of entering the details helps you ask questions you didn’t know you had, and helps put things into perspective that can help you grow.

Why do I need it?

You know what sets apart the people that are killing it in their small business, from the people who aren’t? Often, it’s being aware of the tools at their disposal and knowing how to use data to drive their decision making.

By having a birds eye view of how your marketing is tracking you can start to drill down into what’s working, and what’s not. If that sounds overwhelming I get it… it took me YEARS to start tracking my data and looking at things in this way, rather than just looking at my Instagram insights or web stats and not getting much out of it besides a few unactionable tidbits.

I wish I’d had a template like this to track everything in, and that I had years worth of data available to me now. I would be able to see why my engagement dropped, or understand why people weren’t seeing my posts rather than just looking at my very sad engagement rate and wondering WHYYYYYYY. Now, with the help of my tracker I can check in every week, and I get a little positive reinforcement that what I am doing is working, that engagement is increasing week on week, that more people are visiting my site, and I even know what I did to get them there!

Looking at your analytics/insights without clear questions you want answered is like polling strangers for feedback on your products. It’s useful data, but it doesn’t put it in perspective with the other things you are doing.

If you’re interested in knowing more about understanding data, stay tuned… as I will be talking more about this on my Instagram and the blog. However for now, what if you just sat down once a week and filled in the tracker, and just see what happens…. You might be pleasantly surprised that actually you CAN understand the data and how it can help you grow your business!

incube8r-marketing-tracker

How do access/use use the marketing tracker?

Grab your download below and it will be delivered straight to your mailbox so you have it ready when it’s time to get that data happening!

Spreadsheet version of the Marketing Tracker for Makers and Artists

The tracker is provided as a google drive spreadsheet which is unable to be edited. Once you open the spreadsheet in google drive, go to the FILE menu, make a copy, and save to your drive. You could also download an excel version if you like.  The first line is filled with sample data, so you can delete this once you’re ready. Save it somewhere safe and accessible (like your bookmarks) so you can come back and add to it every week! The digital version is more customisable than the PDF version, and I encourage you to add additional tabs with other info such as your incoming revenue etc. If you would like a hand customising the tracker to meet your needs book a mentoring session and we can do a quick session to make it perfect for your biz.

PDF version of the Marketing Tracker for Makers and Artists

The PDF version of the tracker is a digital download that you can print at home. You’ll want to add the date and information each week!

Once you’ve got the tracker you can follow the instructions below to get it filled in each week!

Where do I get the data for the tracker from?

Instagram 

The Instagram section includes data from two different places. An Engagement Calculator and your native Instagram Insights.

Engagement Calculator 

The first one is a free Engagement Calculator… I like this one from PHLANX personally but there are lots out there! All I would suggest, is that you pick one, and stick to it… as different calculators may give different results.

Run the tool by putting in your instagram handle. You’ll then be provided four metrics which you can enter into your tracker.

  • ENGAGEMENT RATE
  • AVERAGE LIKES
  • AVERAGE COMMENTS
  • TOTAL FOLLOWERS (TODAY)

We all know that likes and comments mean people like what you’re posting, as do saves, reshares and other things people can do to take ACTION on your post. And your engagement rate is a calculation taking all of those things into account.

  1. What is considered a “good” engagement rate varies depending on how many followers you have. The below graph can be used as a guide for what you are aiming for! As you can see, more followers means less engagement overall.

Average Engagement Rate on Instagram from Phlanx.com

In my experience, most creatives under 1,000 followers sit in the 15% – 25% range, if you’re sitting in this range you’re either KILLING IT, or you have lovely friends and family who love you dearly 🙂

Instagram Insights

This one is done directly from your Instagram Insights screen which you can find from your homepage on Instagram.

You will find your accounts reached and Content Interactions on the homepage, and the information on followers in the followers section (remember unfollows are OK, if they don’t want to see your posts let them go!)

Go ahead and add other info if you like!

Pinterest

All of the data for your Pinterest stats can be found via the Pinterest Insights Overview page. Make sure to adjust the dates on the column on the left if on desktop or via the icon top left on your Pinterest App > analytics > and by changing the top to the same date range as you are looking at for other tools.

Facebook

Your Facebook Insights can be found via your Facebook Page and choosing the Insights Menu on the left.

To get the data for this tracker, you need to look at the OVERVIEW and FOLLOWERS sections. Remember to change the dates!

If you are also running Facebook Ads, you may need to run into your Facebook Business manager to get the ad spend, impressions and reach data….

Website

Many e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Etsy will give you different metrics to analyse your data, so you can use those to fill in this section. If you have a Woocommerce store, or stand alone website you’ll need to have Google Analytics installed so you can check the information there.

I recommend installing Google Analytics on your website regardless of what platform it is on, as it will collect the data which you can use to make decisions on later. It’s easy to do, and how to do it varies by platform.

In Google Analytics, you’ll find the information via the AUDIENCE OVERVIEW page and the ACQUISITION > ALL TRAFFIC > CHANNEL page. Remember to change the dates!

What do I do with all this info?

So, now that you’re collecting the information in your marketing tracker, you can do a few things.

  1. Sit down weekly and enter the data. Note if you’ve seen improvements in web traffic, followers, engagement etc. If you have… REWARD YOURSELF!
  2. Ask questions! If you saw improvements, what did you do this week which might have influenced positive change… Did you post more stories? Run some ads? Show your face more?
  3. Same with having a look at why your figures may have dropped… were you slack this week? Felt unwell? Didn’t post?
  4. Note the answers and then use them to influence your marketing this week… do more of what worked and less of what didn’t. Find new ways of posting the things you care about which aren’t getting the engagement you want it to.
  5. Every month, quarterly and annually have a look at the overall picture. Are things  improving or getting worse… what could you do to change it. Set yourself some goals.

And again…. CELEBRATE YOUR WINS! Every week that you see positive change get up and have a boogie, have a glass of wine or a bit of chocolate, buy yourself some new paint brushes or tools… do something for YOU to celebrate the freakin ‘great job you are doing wearing the hat of designer, maker, marketer, bookkeeper, stall holder, and entrepreneur… as well as all the other hats you are wearing too!

I hope this marketing tracker helps you to feel more in control of your data and gives you some tools to make analytical decisions about your marketing! If you would like any help getting started, you can always book a mentoring session with me and I would be more than happy to give you a hand! Alternatively, you might consider getting involved in the Cube Fam, where we discuss topics like this regularly! Whatever you choose, I am here to help you grow your handmade biz, so if you have any questions or feedback please let me know below!

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