Seeing how this is my first post I want to use it to set the tone for my blog and what better way than to say something controversial? The truth is though, while many marketing organizations are highly productive, more often than not our stakeholders tend to look at Marketing as more art than science.
Why is this? Probably because most marketers simply don’t know any better, and usually our management or stakeholders don’t either. As marketers we’re not typically asked to provide hard metrics or measureable results. In fact, a recent McKinsey study shows that a majority of B2B companies surveyed have little to no process for reviewing marketing expenditures.
It’s no wonder then that Sales and executives tend to look at Marketing as a necessary evil and not a true business partner. When a CFO talks about ROI they mean “how did that activity impact the bottom line?” When a marketer speaks about ROI, we limit the conversation to topics like “brand equity” or “increasing awareness”.
This is especially troubling because there are so many hard marketing metrics available. Tools like website analytics, Salesforce.com, Marketo, not to mention old standbys like focus groups and surveys, can all be used to prove the effectiveness of a Marketing department.
So, how do we as marketers change our focus? What kinds of ROI should we be showing? What are the hurdles we’ll have to overcome as we learn to speak the language of the CEO and the VP of Sales rather than the graphic designer?
That, aside from some College Football analysis, is what I intend to cover in the blog. I plan to share my (sometimes painful) real-world experience about how marketers can improve their perceived value by becoming more analytical and metric driven.
Thanks for reading.
