I believe every marketing plan, program and expense can and should be designed with a measurement element built in at the very beginning. After years of leading teams, assembling plans of all descriptions and participating in many budgeting cycles, it's clear to me that every marketing initiative CAN be measured in some way and shouldn't be funded if it isn't measured.
There's the quote I'm sure many have read (attributed to a number of different sources) that says, "I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I'm not sure which half." While that was once probably true, today's marketing teams need to build in measurement as a fundamental requirement before launching new initiatives. Businesses are under tremendous pressure to increase the growth rate of revenue and profits, and marketing has to demonstrate how what it is doing is not a "nice to have" but a value-added partner with sales in delivering on forecasted growth.
Measures used to gauge effectiveness of programs can include things like how many leads are actually converted to qualified pipeline opportunities (as recognized by the sales team), registrations at tradeshows and how these are qualified and moved into the pipeline, and effectiveness at increasing awareness. You may also want to focus on how marketing programs are expanding use of your products or services by the installed base. There are many others and you can be quite specific as you build in measurement components at the program level. You should also consider running your ideas on what is meaningful measurement by both your financial officer and sales officer counterparts to ensure you all agree upfront on what constitutes meaningful indicators of positive results.
As you put the finishing touches on your 2010 marketing plan and budget, think about including a section on measurement ... and then follow-through during the year to ensure your teams are measuring how their marketing initiatives are impacting business results.
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