Marketing Accountability

For many people marketing is the colouring in and pretty pictures department. They see the flash ads on the billboards and TV and think that is what it is all about. Of course, that is not correct so how does marketing prove its worth and discard that poor image? How can marketing accountability be made known?

Targets

Firstly, set targets for each campaign – a number of qualified leads, a level of sales, a number of case studies – so that you know if you are successful or not. Some measures are not necessarily meaningful, so avoid things like numbers of followers (they can be purchased in bulk without being meaningful for your brand) and number of enquiries. There is a large difference between an enquiry and a qualified lead. Some companies will count every business card dropped into a competition bowl at an event as an enquiry. Which they definitely are not.

Instead look at meaningful measures for your marketing accountability: on social media: usage of your hashtags; number of unique conversations (one campaign I was involved in there were 100K followers, but the number of unique accounts talking about the campaign was 140K – a far better measure of reach); number of retweets / shares / comments – things that mean engagement has taken place.

Conversions

For overall integrated marketing campaigns: the value of opportunities directly linked to the campaign, then the amount of those that are converted to sales. When the value of the sales is compared to the amount spent then you have a ROI (return on investment). The marketing activities should deliver more than if the marketing had not taken place, some companies are happy with 4x others 30x. It all depends on you and your business.

Of course, to estimate your ROI ahead of time you have to know your numbers. How many enquiries become fully qualified leads? What percentage of leads convert to opportunity (quotation, visit to your (online) store)? How many opportunities convert to sales (quotations won, sales baskets completed)? What is the average value of the sales completed? These all allow you to set meaningful targets to start off with.

Profitability

Each campaign can have a positive impact on sales; but also, do not forget about profitability when measuring your marketing accountability.

Here are some things that can help there. Vary the product mix (encouraging upselling to the next level above). Know the target audience well (to reduce the amount of money spent reaching them – sniper not shotgun marketing). Avoid commoditisation (promoting the value not the goods themselves). Reducethe marketing spend for better results. All of these lead to improved profitability for your business.

If you need help in setting up your measures and making your marketing accountable, then please do not hesitate to drop us a line.

[originally posted 18/2/21; edited 15/3/24]