By Blake Hodges
Staying ahead in the marketing industry requires more than just creativity and a compelling message. To truly drive growth, marketers must align efforts with key business performance indicators (read: not the vanity metrics that so much reporting leans on). ChannelMix’s recent webinar, “Cookieless Budget Planner: Forecast, predict and pace your media budget,” talked about three critical takeaways to which more marketers need to pay close attention.
Takeaway #1: Attribution Methodologies Many Still Use are Outdated and Fall Short
While conversion data in media platforms may provide a directional view, it often falls short of being an accurate measure of ROI. The key message is clear – to assess the true impact of marketing efforts, businesses must turn to first-party data from their websites, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), or Point of Sale (POS) systems. These data sources provide the necessary metrics, such as leads, orders, and revenue, to determine the actual ROI and satisfy the scrutiny of financial stakeholders.
Takeaway #2: You Need a Single Source of Performance Truth
To derive meaningful insights, marketers need a comprehensive solution that unifies data from multiple platforms, including media, website, CRM, and POS systems. Most software and Business Intelligence (BI) platforms often address only one aspect of the analytics puzzle. A holistic solution, combining data integration, visualization, reporting, attribution, and predictive analytics, is essential for a complete understanding of marketing performance.
Takeaway #3: Bridge the Data Gap Between Marketing and Sales to Tell a Meaningful Story
While marketers may focus on metrics such as impressions and clicks, the C-suite, board, and investors are primarily concerned with sales volume and revenue. This misalignment not only leads to an inability to assess and predict marketing impact on sales but also results in wasted resources on elaborate slide decks that fail to address fundamental questions about marketing ROI. The message is clear – a strategic alignment between marketing and sales goals is imperative for efficiency and informed decision-making.
In a world where data is king, marketing success hinges on the ability to articulate success based on real business impact. As businesses navigate the evolving landscape of marketing analytics, a commitment to these principles will undoubtedly pave the way for more informed, efficient, and ROI-driven marketing strategies.