Focusing on Analytics and Accountability
AUGUST 10, 2010
Closing the gap between measurement and marketing effectiveness
Most marketers are on board when it comes to analytics: They recognize the importance of measuring marketing effectiveness, especially when they are asked to justify spending and possible budget increases. But there is room for improvement in formalizing approaches and communicating results.
According to a survey of senior marketing executives by Forbes Insights and MarketShare Partners, nearly seven in ten said they used analytics to measure marketing effectiveness. Marketers with large budgets were significantly more likely to do so than those with spending of less than $1 million, but many in that group planned to adopt analytics in the future.
Many marketers still take an informal approach to measurement, however. Among those with budgets over $1 million, while 85% said they used analytics, 71% said they had a formalized way of doing so.
Marketers focused most on internal resources to measure the success of their programs, with 86% using internal data, 74% relying on internal teams and 52% on internally developed tools. In comparison, 58% used third-party data and only 35% employed outside professional services. There appears to be room for improvement in the use of all these tools, though, with many marketers reporting they did not meet their measurement needs.
Much of this effort is directed toward justifying marketing programs, but the marketers surveyed often lacked an effective way of communicating the success—or otherwise—of their campaigns to other executives. While three-quarters of marketers begin initiatives with clear goals set out, only 56% have a system for letting company executives know how the campaign fared.Â