Marketing is under pressure to deliver results and drive business outcomes. But how are they doing? Research shows that measuring marketing’s performance is an area of major frustration for the C-Suite and a significant challenge for most marketers. In fact, according to the ITSMA and VisionEdge Marketing (VEM) just completed study, most marketers are dissatisfied with their MPM capabilities. On average, marketers award their marketing organizations ability to manage its performance a 5.6 on a scale of 10.
In August 2012, VisionEdge Marketing conducted a Marketing Performance Management Survey with 405 marketers to assess marketing’s performance with regards to how they use data, metrics, and analytics. With more than a decade of industry talk on the topic of marketing accountability, this research shows that only a few exceptional marketers have cracked the code.
Those few marketers whose leadership team assigned them A grade for their ability to demonstrate their impact to the business have adopted six principles of Marketing Performance Management to increase marketing ROI and contribution. They are:
- Alignment
- Accountability
- Analytics
- Automation
- Alliances
- Assessment
The A-list marketers VisionEdge has identified are able to show how marketing can benefit the organization: 96% say they can prove the direct link between business goals and marketing activities; 91% say its clear to the management how marketing impacts the business; and 90% say that marketing can measure and benchmark their results. That is another important takeaway from the study the A category use statistics as a basis for important decisions, and are more mature when it comes to adoption of Marketing Automation systems.
The survey identified several characteristics in the organization of successful marketers:
- Empower Marketing Operations
- Implement integration and interoperability initiatives
- Institutionalize marketing standards
- Establish formal partners within IT, sales, and finance
- Regularly benchmark to drive performance innovation
For more information, there is an abbreviated summary available for free download. . .
Similar conclusions are drawn in IDCs 2012 CMO Tech Barometer Study. They state: 1) the pace of decisions and deployments for marketing automation software and services are booming. #marketingautomation 2) CMOs need to spend more time on the intersection of sales and marketing. #alignment 3) marketing departments need to continually do more with less and prioritize spend towards highest ROI. #analytics