Everything can be measured. Right? The question for  companies today is what should be analyzed? In this economic environment, most firms are requesting an immediate pay-back or return on all marketing strategies, programs and tactics. Analytics are simply the beginning. To be effective, it is important to understand what you are analyzing.

The following are my recommendations for success when measuring marketing effectiveness:

1. Measure strategy-Develop a perspective of where you want the organization to be in 3 years, in 5 years. What are the assumptions on the key performance metrics over-all and for the balance sheet. Determine the destination from the top-line down to the bottom line.
2. Develop a road map-How will you get there? Is it via new customers? New products? Acquisition? New markets? Define those measures and establish a road-map on how you will arrive.
3. Ensure that the entire organization understands the overall company strategy-Communicate broadly and ensure the employees can articulate the goals. I once worked with a CEO who coined clever names to the strategic initiatives. For example, the “six pack” was the name of the initiatives that were most important to the firm’s overall success. While it was a cheesy name, the entire team could communicate what was most important.
4. Define the role of marketing- The CEO and the CMO must be in lock-step on reaching success. Determine short and long-term plans to arrive at the destination.
5. Be careful with budget cuts-During tough times, it is alluring to cut the marketing spend. Successful marketers can grow market share or sales during a recession.
6. Involve the financial team in investment decisions-The CFO and the financial team are the best resources for developing good financial measures for ROI and pay-back. Ensure they are included in the “up-front” discussions and post-analysis. The rigor will make the investments and programs sharper. An added benefit is that there will be “buy-in” for the program.
7. Don’t get caught in the paralysis by analysis issue-Stay focused and “true” to the company strategy. Keep the scorecard handy. Share results frequently.

How does your company measure success? What are the key metrics you use?

People tend to get used to things around them and lament their demise, even if they’re useless and unsightly, like the rusty Bronco in my dad’s field.

Two household names just died, and I am wondering—how?  Procter and Gamble launched one of them 72 years ago as a product marketing channel—the same type of channel a piece of meat wrapped around a dog pill is..   Guiding Light burned out a few weeks ago due to declining ratings—at the end, it boasted fewer than half of the 5 million viewers it had in 1999.  According to executive producer, Ellen Wheeler, “We ran the numbers every which way: upside down, backwards, sideways”..    It certainly seems to me, though, to be a quick death relative to a long ride of dominance.

Analogously, Gourmet magazine, the 69 year old pioneer of the food-as-an-experience genre will end next month since Conde Nast felt they could do no more with it.  Cooking is popular: more Americans watch The Food Network than any of the cable news networks.  Why, then, is this most recognized brand ‘cooked’?  How can the pioneer of a genre just…end?  Could Gourmet not have launched its own transitional show or cooking club or something?  Where were the rescuers of these paragons? 

Both icons were about the same age and both start with the letter G..  That’s where the situational similarity ends, though—Guiding Light seems to have done everything it could (even if misguided) to make itself more attractive to a modern audience, and it had few soap opera competitors.  Gourmet, on the other hand, refused to change amid a hyper competitive food magazine and blog market.  The message here, to me, is clear—if your brand has content, keep it and its delivery fresh.  Or it will die.

I have always been interested in and saddened by extinction, and that has undoubtedly influenced my outlook on branding waste and business cycles.  What seems different about this season, though, is the number of high profile, meteor-hitting-the-earth-style brand extinctions we’ve seen.   Guiding Light and Gourmet are testaments to the old adage, change or die—it’s just more poignant when the fallen were once mighty.

Procter & Gamble’s “Store Back” concept is more evidence that focus on shopper and in-store marketing is becoming a priority with brand manufacturers (and, of course, retailers). There are many definitions for shopper marketing out there, but here are the key components we believe make up the formula (a partial list):

• Pull marketing (not push) – the consumer initiates their own campaign based on their wants and interests, often in real time, leveraging whatever communication channel is their preference
• Content must be entirely relevant to the individual
• A complex version of one-to-one (or “segment of one”) marketing including some traditional variables as well as incorporating new ones:

Actionable content is arguably one of the most important things that shopper marketing must deliver to the consumer.  With data-driven media having an increasing role in the retail environment, and with mobile being arguably the most complex one-to-one platform (direct marketing that must be real-time, location-based, time-based, context-based, relevant and actionable), it’s clear that marketing and operational systems will need to be much more tightly integrated for shopper marketing to be effective. Otherwise, content may not truly be actionable, which is a crucial component to the whole shopper marketing proposition.

What are your thoughts about shopper (“Store Back”) marketing?   What does it mean to you?  What challenges are you facing?