Chief
Marketers Brainstorm
Measurement Solutions
ClickZ, June 10, 2004 By Robyn Greenspan
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council met at BusinessWeek's New York offices
yesterday to address
what has become
a critical issue
for organizations:
marketing performance
measurements (MPM).
Apparently, most
marketers consider
MPM a priority,
but few have adopted
a formal system,
according to the
Council's extensive
study of nearly
1,000 top technology
marketers.
Despite the struggle with measuring the broad, holistic view of marketing, marketers
have been able
to determine the
success of some
touch point initiatives,
such as Web site
and Internet presence;
direct mail/e-mail
campaigns; trade
shows and events;
and telemarketing
and contact management.
"The
good news is we're
doing a good job,
but we have a way
to go toward full
marketing performance
measurement," said Keith Fox, senior vice president of marketing for BusinessWeek Research
Services.
What
the CMO Council
identified during
the study is that
marketers often
try to tie marketing
dollars to revenue
- a task that becomes
difficult when
attempting to quantify
the value of soft
marketing initiatives,
such as branding. "Whenever you could prove that your marketing dollars generated revenue, that
becomes more important," said Fox. "Marketing is not always lead-generating," he remarked.
Included
among the top metrics
executives use
to determine marketing
performance are
customer retention
and loyalty; marketing
program return
on investment (ROI);
feedback from sales
channel; word-of-mouth
and customer referral
rates; and number
of campaign leads
converted. The
company's stock
price, analyst
influence, and
Wall Street reports
were considered
to be less relied
upon for marketing
performance indicators.
Some
of the CMO Council's
MPM Program Leaders
offered measurement
criteria. Donald
Frischman, senior
vice president
of communications
and brand management
for Symantec, suggests
simple multi-pronged
measurement: customer
satisfaction versus
customer complaints;
product reviews;
support, particularly
customer hold times;
and abandonment
rate. "All these affect the brand," said Frischman. "Get the branding right first and then others will join in. We are selling brand
trust."
Jim
Easton, acting
vice president,
sales and marketing,
Orcas Network,
also emphasized
simplicity, suggesting
that marketers
measure roughly
four categories
or parameters. "Kill those that don't work or cause you to overanalyze," said Easton.
David
Hirsch, director
of BtoB vertical
markets, Google,
stressed the importance
of measuring relevancy
- connecting information
to the customer
at the right time
- along with accountability,
and ROI or return
on objective.
The
panel members were
in agreement about
how emerging technology
has positively
impacted their
ability to measure
their efforts,
but Carol Meyers,
vice president
of marketing, Unica,
warned, "Technology is not a magic elixir." Panelists explained that change has to come with a corporate-wide acceptance
of measurement
importance and
strategy.
"Having
a measurement program
means you know
what you want to
do. It helps to
put you in sync
with the rest of
the company," said You Mon Tsang, CMO, Biz360.
The
CMO Council represents
more than 800 technology
companies, and
was designed to
foster high-level
knowledge exchange
and thought leadership
among senior marketing
and brand decision-makers.
MPM Forum key underwriters
include Biz360,
Cognos, Google
and Unica.
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