Marketing performance

INTRODUCTION

Marketing performance measurement and management ( MPM) is a term used by marketing professionals to describe the analysis and improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing. This is accomplished by focus on the alignment of marketing activities, strategies, and metrics with business goals.

Marketing measurement t involves the creation of a metrics framework to monitor marketing performance , and then develop and utilize marketing dashboards to manage marketing performance.

Performance management is one of the key processes applied to business operations such as manufacturing, logistics, and product development. The goals of performance management are to achieve key outcomes and objectives to optimize individual,  group, or organizational performance. Marketing Performance Measurement (MPM) however, is more specific. It focuses on measuring, managing, and analyzing marketing performance to maximize effectiveness and optimize the return of investment (ROI) of marketing.

Three elements play a critical role in managing marketing performance

       i.            Data,

     ii.            Analytics, and

  iii.            Metrics.

Data and analytics

One of the core methodologies to measure marketing effectiveness is the collection of appropriate data. The gathering of right types of data, and its accuracy, is crucial in measuring the marketing performance.

Agreement between the marketing department and the senior management is important in selecting appropriate data to be collected.

While data collection is relatively simple, a thorough analysis to make sense of collected data is critical. By thoroughly analyzing the data, organizations can gather

actionable business insights to improve the marketing effectiveness and marketing efficiency. For example, organizations can use the analytics to drive the marketing return on investment, and make faster and better business decisions.

One common use of these analytics is optimizing marketing spending by using market mix models – models that measure the impact of marketing activities, competitive effects, and market environment on sales of a product. The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry extensively uses this method, and it is now being adopted elsewhere. For example, in Financial Services, Marketing Mix Modeling projects and tools will collect all marketing spend into a single database, and analyze spend’s effects on acquisition of new customers, retention, average customer value, up-sell of additional services, and so on. These models use data to create a model that establishes the link between spend in various channels, geographies and so on with incremental sales.

Measurement and metrics enable marketing professionals to justify budgets based on returns and to drive organizational growth and innovation. As a result, marketers use these metrics and performance measurement as way to prove value and demonstrate the contribution of marketing to the organization.

Popular metrics used in analysis include activity – based metrics that involves numerical counting and reporting. For example, tracking downloads, Web site visitors, attendees at various events are types of  activity-based metrics. However, they seldom link marketing to business outcomes.

Instead, business outcomes such as market share, customer value, and new product adoption offer a better correlation. MPM focuses on measuring the aggregated effectiveness and efficiency of the marketing organization.

 Some common categories of these specific metrics include

       i.            Marketing’s impact on share of preference,

     ii.            Rate of customer acquisition,

  iii.            Average order value,

  iv.            Rate of new product and service adoptions,

     v.            Growth in customer buying frequency,

  vi.            Volume and share of business,

vii.            Net advocacy and loyalty,

viii.            Rate of growth compared to competition and the market, margin, and customer engagement.

An ideal dashboard should show the progress of marketing, help assess productive areas, and help in the decision making. In addition, dashboards provide an indication on the value of marketing and also helps to align marketing with the business.

MPM professionals develop closed-loop business processes for data collection, performance target setting, measurement and reporting.  Processes must describe a document outlining the step-by-step actions that marketing must take to

follow the process consistently. A valuable aid is the process map. Process mapping is a technique to create a clearly defined objective to meeting business results.

According to Marketing Metrics in Action: Creating a Performance-Driven Marketing Organization ,[5] the creation of a performance-driven organization requires two elements: a set of standards and processes for identifying and accessing relevant data, and the ability to generate performance metrics from the data.

A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan . Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use.

A marketing plan is a comprehensive blueprint which outlines an organization’s overall marketing efforts. A marketing process can be realized by the marketing

mix. The last step in the process is the marketing controlling. The marketing plan can function from two points: strategy and tactics (P. Kotler, K.L. Keller).