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Industry News
Measuring Marketing ROI
By
Mar 14, 2005, 15:00

Many people believe that marketing, branding, and communications are all about creating buzz or increasing visibility and awareness of an organization’s product or service offerings – an intangible “investment” that cannot be measured or justified. In these days of shrinking profits and corporate belt-tightening, if a marketing program cannot be measured or justified in terms of revenue or profits, it is considered a non-essential expense.

In other words, marketing programs are prime targets for cost-cutting measures at organizations of various sizes across many industries. Therefore, how should marketing professionals justify their contributions to an organization’s financial success?

Before spending any of the scarce financial resources allocated to marketing, here are some questions that experienced marketing professionals needed to consider:

  • What campaigns, initiatives, or key messages generated the greatest number of leads or media placements within the past two years?
  • What was the conversion rate for any leads generated from these campaigns?
  • What campaigns netted the most revenue for the lowest investment?
  • Who is your target audience and has that changed due to economic conditions, pricing considerations, or new product and service offerings?
  • Who are your most valuable customers? How and where do they purchase your product and service?
  • What is the average length of your sales cycle?
  • What are your competitors’ offerings and do you have a similar offering that differentiates you from them?
  • What are your organization’s short and long term strategic goals?
  • What in-house versus outsourced resources do you have available? Does this include IT-related involvement and support in meeting your goals?
  • What is your overall marketing budget?

    These are just some of the questions experienced marketing professionals need to consider in the development of an integrated, multi-channel marketing and communications strategy. Each industry has its own standard benchmarks and best practices for marketing and communications planning.

    For example, knowing what other marketers in your industry invest in programs as a percentage of gross profits or cost-of-sales serves as a guideline for your own planning. Ideally one would have all the necessary information like previous campaign results, conversion rates, industry benchmarks, sales projections, and anticipated campaign costs to determine an optimal mix of programs and resources required to meet expectations and revenue goals.

    Once an optimal mix of programs and campaigns has been developed, excellence in plan execution, as well as a process for capturing and measuring the results of marketing and communications investments, becomes equally important in justifying one’s contribution to an organization.



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