A New Accountability
Back when the economy tanked, an old word crept back into our lexicon: accountability. Marketers already had plenty of metrics in place, particularly at larger organizations that were well-schooled in tracking sales leads, market share, and CPM. Nevertheless, these pockets of performance measurements didn’t provide the big picture that senior managers are now seeking. What was lacking was a way to measure effectiveness of a campaign real-time and communicate the overall impact of the marketing organization.
So as bottom lines were scrutinized and budgets were slashed, marketing became an easy target because it was the least accountable. Today, there’s a new accountability in marketing that wasn’t there in the past. Companies are beginning to realize that it’s important their marketing strategies be aligned with their business strategies. Businesses must develop a real-time understanding of how well any marketing initiative is working.
In a multi-client research study entitled The Cross-Media Direct Marketing Opportunity, InfoTrends surveyed more than 500 marketing executives. According to our research, over 50% of marketing executives do not measure marketing campaign performance while executing a campaign. This means that the marketing campaign is completed and the budget is spent, even if it proves ineffective.
Check back tomorrow for the rest of this article!
Thanks for the data. Even though online automation makes it easier to track marketing results and misses, it’s still not easy to come up with a worthwhile approach. People move on, priorities lose appeal and programs get scrapped. Sometimes the methods are too much trouble for too little return. It’s a constant problem and one I don’t see being solved anytime soon. Look forward to the next installment.