RESOURCES · E-NEWSLETTERS · THINK · NOVEMBER 2006

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MEASUREMENT: A REFRESHER COURSE

The best marketing managers and their agencies are mindful of the importance of having a good campaign measurement strategy in place. Measuring marketing efforts is the best way to gauge return on investment and to maximize the effectiveness of those efforts. Unfortunately, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of building and executing compelling creative campaigns - the sexy stuff - only to think late in the game about how specifically to assess the campaigns' success.

In the tradition of remedial courses, below are a few steps marketers must take to ensure a sound measurement strategy is in place ahead of time, so they can celebrate successes and build on learning.

  1. The first step in developing a sound measurement strategy is determining up front what success will look like. Decide early on what metrics are most valuable for your company to discern whether the effort is helping achieve your goals. Remember: the success of some goals and specific communications vehicles (e.g., direct mail vs. TV) will be more easily measured than others, so be clear and realistic on what and how you will measure/track.
  2. Now that you know what you would like to measure, you will need to know how much it will cost to measure it. Build in the measurement and tracking budget up front. Get used to having a line item in your budget dedicated to measurement and tracking and pretty soon measurement will no longer be an afterthought.
  3. You have your measurement plan in place, and it is part of your budget. What now? Well, do it. Measure and report; then track progress.
  4. At this point you should be gaining valuable insights into how your campaign is performing. What do you do now that you are armed with such useful information? Adjust the program(s) based on learning and continue to track progress (or as we like to say: "Measure, Report, Adjust, Repeat").

Cheat sheet: Below is a list of some potential metrics you might consider tracking. This list only scratches the surface (there are many other things that may be tracked), and that of course depends on your objectives and budget:

  • Awareness
  • Loyalty
  • Perceived quality/leadership/popularity
  • Brand associations
  • Sales/market share
  • Market price
  • Alignment of perception of vision/mission vs. actual
  • Customer satisfaction index
  • Purchase intent (before and after)
  • Response rates to promotional programs
  • Lead conversion
  • Customer acquisition
  • Web log file analysis
  • Web visitor behavior patterns
  • Search engine queries

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