Marketers in the technology sector have made significant strides in developing and deploying their marketing performance measurement(MPM) strategies. Most have moved beyond the unrealistic quest to establish the perfect return on investment (ROI) metric, and have developed a solid marketing operations area that focuses on maintaining a set of pragmatic marketing performance objectives and metrics. Even so, many companies remain behind the MPM development curve, with the economic, marketplace, and corporate pressures continuing to grow.
Where are the best practice leaders today (i.e., MPM 2.0), and what does their next generation MPM process look like? Here's a quick look at the state of the industry today for MPM based upon a recent study by IDC's CMO Advisory Service:
- Marketing Operations is "leading the charge" to improve the group's measurement process and drive analytical rigor across the organization in addition to the more familiar art of marketing. (refer to my earlier post regarding MO staffing levels and responsibilities)
- A cascading dashboard strategy has been deployed, including a CMO or executive-level dashboard, and dashboards at the business unit, functional and regional levels. Nortel has done a good job of building this type of hierarchy into their MPM process.
- Regions and business units are beginning to improve their data input and overall participation in the MPM process. Citrix takes this a step further and puts the responsibility of data collection and some analysis into the hands of the regions.
- The importance of measurement at the activity, functional and campaign level have penetrated the organization as an established "culture of measurement", resulting in improved efficiencies and effectiveness across marketing. In Intel. . . "discussions driven by the dashboard have made the staff smarter and more cognizant about how we're contributing to Intel business success and why."
Essential guidance for every marketer to either catch up to your peers, or to stay ahead of the MPM curve includes: 1) If you don’t have a MPM process yet, start now!. . . And don’t aim for perfection; 2) Use relevant metrics that drive action; 3) Include all marketing groups in your MPM process as well as sales; and 4) Include your MPM process as part of your weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reporting and strategic planning process, with a well communicated cadence in alignment with sales and corporate.
Feel free to comment below or email me at mgerard@idc.com to continue the discussion. I'll be glad to share some additional insight regarding where I see companies headed for "MPM 3.0".
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