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The Magic of Marketing Measurement

By Navigator member Caroline Eveleigh, Director, Anatec Software and Systems Ltd

Marketing is a fickle mistress.  When you need more work, she flashes her pretty lashes with the promise of all that is possible.  But when it comes to finding new business, she slips and slithers with talk of demographics, 5 P’s and other such complexities that don’t bring a queue of new customers.  Mistress Marketing’s promise and expensive price tag can prove to be an illusion.  So what do you do?  Keep feeding her expensive dinners?  Or go back to the wifely ways of sending out a calendar once a year? 

You update your website, send out letters but don’t quite get the stampede you expect.  You even try making a few telephone calls, until you can’t stand hearing “no” any more: put something in the post to me / my colleague deals with that / I’m in a meeting.  Arrggh! 

Where might you be going wrong?  Maybe it’s the product?  Maybe it’s the way you are selling it?  Maybe no one wants widgets / print / PR / coaching / software / shoes / consultancy anymore?  Perhaps you need a marketing consultant (I know a good one …).

But how come others get marketing to work so successfully?  Do they have better products?  Better copywriters?  Maybe, but maybe not – maybe there are two ingredients you are missing. The first is what Nigel Temple calls “stick-to-it-ness” and the second is MMM – the Magic of Marketing Measurement.

Stick-to-it-ness
Stick-to-it-ness simply says that in order to be successful with your marketing, you have to keep going.  But why, you howl!  Why would I keep going with something that doesn’t work?  The answer is volume; you have to do enough of something to make a difference.  Hence: “stick-to-it-ness”.  You have to try different things, and try them for long enough for them to have a chance of working.  Enough letters, enough phone calls, enough marketing to get your audience to listen to how you can improve their lot.  

But “stick-to-it-ness” alone is not enough; you also have to measure each one of your marketing initiatives.  Not complicated, but does require discipline and order.

MMM – The Magic of Marketing Measurement
Measuring is easy and effective.  Making measurement a habit repays your efforts with ever improving results.  Here are some ideas:

* Number of letters sent out by month, and to which list.  Keep the date of each mailing with a summary of the copy used.
* The cost of the mailing together with key variables such as 1st class or 2nd class, printed or plain envelopes.
* How many responses: fulfilment packs sent out, enquiries and how many converted into customers.  Cost per response.
* How many telephone calls made, on what days, how long they took and a summary of responses.
* How many unique visitors to your websitefor each version of the site. 
* Number of subscribers to your newsletter by marketing initiative.
* How many of your editorial articles get placed, together with the circulation of the publication.

What you measure depends on your type of business, and how you go about your marketing.  How you gather and present the data will depend on the size of your business, and how determined you are to improve results.  If you are not getting the results you want, consider increasing quantities or the frequency of your marketing initiatives.  Consider changing the copy or the offer.

Einstein wryly pointed out that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Don’t underestimate the value of making this measurement visible – Toyota built a world class business on this principle.  Seeing results, whether good or bad, has a motivating effect on people.  Present them as traffic lights or a dashboard to get discussion and debate going.

Measurement isn’t an overnight wunderkind, it works its magic over a period of time, which is why it’s important to keep measures and results safe and visible.

Improving performance
There is a saying that you can’t fatten a pig by weighing it.  But equally, you can’t fatten a pig unless you feed it regularly – skipping a day here and there, or sometimes even a week, is going to get you a lean and hungry pig by Christmas time.

And therein lies the rub; marketing is too easily forgotten whilst we get busy with other things.  To improve marketing performance you must keep a record of what’s happened in a systematised way so that you can see how much or how little you are doing, and understand what to do better next time.

Getting great results from marketing requires consistent activity (“stick-to-it-ness”), as well as measurement (MMM).  Because if you don’t measure, you simply won’t know what works and what doesn’t. 

Lord Kelvin of physics fame remarked that: “Large increases in cost with questionable increases in performance can be tolerated only in race horses and fancy women.”   He was obviously an astute businessman with a limited marketing budget.  I don’t know whether there is a record of where he stood on the mistress question.  But he also said: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”  A man as determined as Lord Kelvin probably wouldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t measure something that they wanted to improve. 

Caroline Eveleigh, Director
Anatec Software and Systems Ltd

Anatec specialises in performance management systems for businesses.  They tailor solutions to suit the size and needs of each business – from an Excel spread sheet to a Windows or Intranet solution for a team or company.
www.anatec.co.uk
www.gettingtoexcellent.com

For your FREE copy of 24 Marketing Measures to Improve sales, send an email to:  measures@anatec.co.uk

 

 

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