Marketing Governance

Dr. Robert Shaw is a renowned businesswriter on marketing. He also is a consultant on the field of marketing, particularly Marketing performance measurement and management and Database marketing.

In his work two key elements come forward.

1. Marketing automation: the idea that the marketing function should embrace IT to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. Shaw has tracked the uses and abuses of IT in marketing for over 20 years and defined best practice in this field.
2. Marketing performance measurement and management. Shaw identified the need for marketing to become more measurable and accountable and his researches continue to define best practice in this field.

In this ten minute interview, conducted by Mayer Becker, Shaw sheds his light on Leaner, faster and better marketing.

Elements of user interface that you control are vital to the success of your marketing platform adoption & ROI.  You are developing the materials in order to be a simple, effective shortcut for your marketers while you provide them a healthy freedom within a framework.  Your goal is to make available a path to success in record time.  Saving your participants time will save your budget.  Making the items easy to navigate and locate will be one of the top contributers to user adoption success.

Read More

Perhaps your marketing organization, like so many we work with have a marketing dashboard. At two recent conferences where the topic was marketing dashboards we asked attendees whether  their dashboard enables them to the following:

1. Inform the leadership team of the contribution and impact marketing is making on acquiring, keeping, and growing the value of customers?
2. Provide a direct link between your marketing programs and investments and business results?
3. Enable you to make strategic decisions?

Most every participant indicated that their dashboard is not addressing these three questions.  If this situation sounds familiar, then it may be time to do some fine tuning.  Below are three attributes we use to evaluate a dashboard’s ability to facilitate decisions, improve marketing, and prove marketing’s contribution.

Alignment

One of the first things we look for when reviewing a dashboard is the degree of connection between marketing activities and investments and business outcomes.  This signals how well marketing is aligned with the business needles the company is trying to move and whether marketing will be able to communicate its impact and contribution.  For example, let’s say one of the metrics on the dashboard is brand awareness.  That might or might not be a good metric.  And even if it is a good metric for the organization, if the relationship between brand awareness and the outcome it is expected to impact is unclear, then the dashboard needs adjustment.   Members of the C-Suite are invest in marketing initiatives that will help the company acquire more of something, faster, less expensively, for example, more customers, more market share, more business with existing customer; faster conversion rates, and faster product adoption.  Does your marketing dashboard show marketing value, contribution and impact on find, keep and grow, and answer the questions of more, faster, and at what cost?

Outcome-based Metrics

The next thing we examine is the metrics themselves.  Most of the time what we see is data around marketing activity and leads.  Rarely are the metrics actionable.  If the metric isn’t helping you make course adjustments or strategic recommendations it might be interesting and you may want to track it, but it probably isn’t one you want to send up the flagpole. Think about the dashboard in your car.  There are just a very few indicators you are monitoring such as level of fuel, engine temperature, air pressure, and speed.   Each of these indicators are tied to some very important outcomes, such as not getting stuck because the tank is dry or the tire is flat or the engine overheated, or not  getting a speeding ticket.  Each of us uses the dashboard in our cars as a way to make decisions to help manage or mitigate risk.  Some of us are willing to push the risk envelope a bit more and keep the pedal to the metal or keep driving even though the gas gauge needle says the car is running on fumes.  But we have the metrics we need to decide whether to stop and fuel up or not.

Performance Targets

Lastly, we look to see whether the dashboard compares targets to actual.  Many dashboards are missing this critical element.  Monitoring, measuring, and reporting results need to be within the context of the target and the commitment made.  There are two parts to this dimension:

1. Performance Context:  If you report that you ran a 5K race at a 10 minute per mile pace how can we determine whether that was success or failure?  If you typically run at an 8 minute per mile pace for a 5K then this information tells us something was off and we can begin to do a diagnostic – were you sick, did you lack fuel, were you over-trained, did you have a cramp, fall down?  But if you typically run at a 12 minute per mile pace, then this is a huge improvement.  We have performance context for your results.
2. Performance Commitment.  What performance commitment did you make?  Was your commitment to place in the top five in your age group? Or was it to surpass your personal record? Or, something else?  The point is that your dashboard should enable you and anyone who to evaluate the results within the performance context and commitment.

Summary

If you have a dashboard that makes the connection between marketing activities, investment and results, is comprised of metrics that foster decision and action, and reports performance within context and commitment you are on your way to having a dashboard that will enable you to improve and prove the value of marketing.

Lattice Engines created this infographic exploring the most pivotal inventions that have revolutionized sales. Read More

Efficient marketing supply chain management will deliver significant financial results, as well improving collaboration amongst the marketing department, its internal customers and the suppliers of marketing services.

If you want to know more, watch this video.

An all too common misperception is that marketing asset management (MAM) and distributed marketing management (DMM) platform technology is only for the “big guys,” the large companies with huge budgets, but it’s not. It’s a statement Saepio makes in their white paper ‘Only for the big guys?’.

Understandably, solution providers (Saepio included) often emphasis their power brand clients in webinars, case studies and sales presentations.  But if your company doesn’t fit the “big guys” definition, don’t overlook the benefits DMM can deliver for you.  In fact, if Small and Medium Business (SMB) describes you, you may derive more value from a DMM solution than the big guys do. Read More

The future is bright for the marketing automation industry, according to this infographic by Carlos Hidalgo. Marketing Automation is increasingly being recognized as a solution to marketing challenges. Both large and smaller enterprises can benefit from the insights, control, time saved, and cost reductions achieved by Marketing Automation.

While adoption rates are still modest, but judging by the number of vendors out there, there may be a breakthrough soon.

Click the image for a larger view. . . .

Marketing Automation and cookies, two of our favorite things down here at marketinggovernance.com. The video below is an interview with head of marketing Thomas Breg of Franz Haas Food Equipment, an Austrian-based company that manufactures the machines used to make cookies and waffles. The company operates in over 160 countries worldwide, which poses a considerable challenge to the marketing department.

The company uses the BrandMaker Marketing Planner for coordinating the planning, management and execution of marketing activities. Breg explains how his company works with BrandMaker to manage their expanding marketing efforts:

. . .