Marketing metrics

Those who know me well - and those who have labored through my correspondence since way back in the BURRIS Newsletter days - know I've ranted time and again about measuring marketing effectiveness. I've written about "marketing return on investment" (MROI), cost per inquiry (CPI), and much more over the years, but I can name only a few actual cases where we helped a customer implement and monitor an effectiveness measurement program.

It's part of the three-link chain I talk about when describing "what we do." I talk about (a) brand identity (or "brand clarity" where necessary), (b) implementing marketing communincations, and (c) marketing metrics. "C" gets the most interest early on, but rarely do we actually find a customer with the discipline and commitment to implement a full-bodied program for measuring return on advertising investment.

It is a discipline, and it's not easy. A solid metrics program includes setting clear, measureable objectives, benchmarking, research - before, during and after - reporting, fine tuning and tweaking...it's a lot of work. You need thick skin on top of confidence.

Stuart Elliott reported in yesterday's (July 20) New York Times that a new study will be released this week that measures how uncomfortable marketers are with the gap between the desire to measure and the actual data they receive. See that story here, or click on the title of this post.

Today business measures practically everything except marketing return. It's time to change that, but there's no simple formula. It has to be done one initiative at a time.