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Marketing and Measurement

I do love a good truism and "You can't manage what you can't measure" is one of them.

Why do so many companies, the moment they hit tough financial times, look to Marketing departments as a place to save costs.

While it may be a short term cost saver, the truth is it might also seem to be a good, long term decision, because so many marketing departments do not deliver easily measurable results.

Yes, they deliver great ideas, brilliant award winning advertisements, fabulous collateral and mind blowing events.   But how do they measure success?

I believe it is critical for Marketing departments to have very clear measurables running parallel with brand building.

I feel the same way about training and conferences.

Sometimes the only way to evaluate whether things are working, is to stop doing them, and do before and after comparisons!   Dangerous, though.

To get back to brand building, it is really tough to evaluate brand improvement over shortish time periods which makes it very important to establish the current status before launching  a new initiative.

Sometimes it is important to keep your name out there, because not having it might send a strong, negative message, but the majority of marketing spend should be around clearly defined goals which are aligned with business strategy and objectives.

To give a simple example:   if you are running a product launch, what is the purpose?
  • We want coverage in 5 print and 20 online publications
  • We want 25 of our large, and 75 of our medium clients present
  • We want to sign up 5 at the event
  • We want to sign a further 10 within 1 week
  • We aim to sign up a further 15 within 1 month
  • We plan to spend R100k on the launch (R1000 per head)
  • We expect a return of R600k within 1 month (R30k per client)
It now makes it easy to build the entire event plan around the objectives:
  • Who to invite
  • A theme and model to encourage the right attendees
  • How to attract the press, or design effective press releases
  • Incentives for purchasing within required time frames
It appears to me that many event organisers and marketing departments are excellent at the first two items, and don't focus enough on the purpose, making the launch the main event, rather than seeing it as a catalyst to create more business.

The challenge is to create a model where marketing is integral to the success of the business and is recognised as such.

What do you think?

Links, References and Notes


email:      tschroenn@accsys.co.za
twitter:   @TerylSchroenn


Note

Thank you for reading Teryl@Work.   Should you wish to use any of the material, please acknowledge this blog as the source



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