You can assess whether your marketing is working by checking whether it is helping you achieve your goals. That might mean attracting volunteers who meet a role’s requirements or helping people understand how to access support. Combine figures such as enquiries and applications with feedback from your audience and team. Then consider whether the progress justifies the time and money involved, and what you could improve. Start with one activity and information you already collect to keep the review manageable.
Check whether your marketing is helping you achieve your intended result and whether that progress justifies the resources used. Use what you learn to decide what to continue, change or investigate further.
Choose one marketing activity or campaign to review. Identify who you want to reach and what you want them to understand or do. Decide what you will compare the results against. You may have a target based on your organisation’s needs, such as the number of volunteers required, or results from a similar previous campaign. If neither is available, record your current results as a starting point for future comparisons. The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s guidance on setting objectives explains how specific, measurable and realistic goals help you evaluate whether an activity has succeeded. If you are unsure which goal deserves attention first, our guide to marketing priorities for a small organisation can help.
Choose two or three measures that help you assess progress. For volunteer recruitment, you could track enquiries, completed applications and how many applicants meet the role’s requirements. Start with information your team already records, alongside figures from your website or marketing platforms. Reach and views can indicate how widely content has been shown or viewed, but they do not establish understanding. If your goal is to explain a service, include feedback on whether people understand who it is for and how to access it. Keep a simple shared document or spreadsheet covering the goal, results, time and money spent, what you have learned and the next action. Agree who will collect the information and when you will review it. Use consistent sources and definitions so comparisons remain meaningful.
Look at whether responses help you achieve your goal. More enquiries may create extra work without helping people access support if most come from people your service cannot assist. Suitable applications or referrals that match your eligibility criteria can be more useful signs of progress. Speak to colleagues who handle enquiries and applications. Do people understand what you offer? Which questions keep coming up? Repeated questions may suggest missing or unclear information, although some people will simply want reassurance. Where appropriate, ask people what helped them find you and decide to get in touch. Their answers can help explain the results, but a few responses will not represent everyone. Clear information can also help someone recognise that an opportunity is unsuitable, saving time for them and your team.
Compare periods of similar length and note differences such as extra advertising spend, seasonal demand, events or service changes. When numbers are small, show the actual figures. An increase from two enquiries to four gives a clearer picture than “100% growth” alone. Allow time for people to respond. Someone may apply or donate weeks after seeing your communication. Choose a review period that reflects this, and look for changes that continue across comparable periods before drawing firm conclusions about a trend. Check what your records might miss, including telephone enquiries or applications completed elsewhere. An increase after a campaign is worth exploring, but timing alone does not prove the campaign caused it. Recommendations, other publicity or changes in demand may also have contributed.
Consider whether the progress justifies the time and money spent. If an activity is helping you achieve your goal and the workload is sustainable, it may be worth continuing. Where results are disappointing, investigate before deciding what to change. If too few intended readers appear to encounter the content, examine where and how it is shared. If people visit a page but rarely act, check whether it answers their questions and makes the next step straightforward. When the evidence is incomplete, identify what else you need to learn. If repeated reviews show little progress, consider reducing or stopping the activity so you can put those resources towards a stronger priority. NCVO’s guidance on using evaluation findings recommends turning learning into manageable improvements. Record what you will do next, who is responsible and when you will review the results.
If you are unsure what your marketing results mean or what to change, Grinning Graphics can help you review the evidence alongside your messaging, content and website. Get in touch to discuss what you want to achieve and which improvements would make the best use of your time and budget.