Determine What’s Working and Why…

By Robert Wheatley

People like me in the agency business are constantly trying to divine the current collective mindset among clients about their top concerns. It impacts what we write about on this blog (our audience). It effects how we approach potential clients. It informs the conversation we have with those we currently serve.

You might assume the top priority fits squarely in the sales and market share basket, a sort of reference standard we think all marketers boomerang back to like death and taxes, the head waters of the Mississippi, or the assurance of yet another sunrise and sunset. Lo research shows another consideration that appears to be top-of-mind for marketers of all shapes and sizes.

Don’t’ take my word for it, examine this chart:

It was prepared by the CMO Council in partnership with Deloitte Consulting, from a survey of over 800 senior marketing executives.

Top box scores go to: better understanding the value of marketing investments and customer insight. Remarkably these two issues follow a close parallel path. Insight leads to better marketing communications strategy. And outcomes in delivery of those strategies can be evaluated only on the merits of specific tactics and their ROI.

The lesson here is measurement matters. And we’re not talking about a “hold their feet to the fire” effort primarily to assure the agency is going to deliver on its promises. (Yes that matters, too). Even more importantly in these days of budget pressures, it’s essential to know what programs and tactics are going to yield the biggest bang for the buck spent.

In PR and social media this means that outcomes as or more important then output. Presumably the “spend” in communications is to secure changes in attitude and behavior, not just secure significant quantities of non-paid media attention. PR by the pound?

Emergence of social media and measurement

Web-based strategies are infinitely measurable — whether focused on Internet based communications platforms, or outbound efforts to engage consumers in conversation. Example, we build client dashboards to assess:

Web traffic
Web traffic referrals
Search volume trends
Social media mentions
Track number of followers and friends
Share of voice in relevant conversations online

We also look at the Net Promoter Score. This is determined through monthly on-line surveys that pose just one question: “On a scale of one to ten, how likely are you to purchase XYZ product?”

All of this works to elevate and enhance the value of what we do — and its importance in delivering benefits for the dollars that are invested in communications.

What do you think?