Marketers should share just two categories of metrics with senior management if they are to gain the respect of CEOs and CFOs, according to Marketo.
The marketing firm says that Revenue Metrics and Marketing Program Performance Metrics, which document the impact of effort and investment and directly link it to revenue and profit are the only relevant markers in the financial minds of business owners.
Marketo have outlined five key problems with metrics:
1. Vanity Metrics – Too often, marketers rely on “feel good” measurements (e.g. the no. of Facebook ‘likes’) to justify their marketing spend, instead of pursuing metrics that measure business outcomes.
2. Measuring What is Easy – When it is difficult to measure revenue and profit, marketers often end up using metrics that stand in for those numbers.
3. Quantity, Not Quality – Focusing on quantity without also measuring quality can lead to programmes that look good initially but don’t deliver profits.
4. Activity, Not Results – Marketing activity is easy to see and measure, but marketing results are hard to measure. In contrast, sales activity is hard to measure, but sales results are easy to measure.
5. Efficiency Instead of Effectiveness – Paying attention to the difference between effectiveness metrics (doing the right things) and efficiency metrics (doing – possibly the wrong things well). For example, having a packed event is no good if it’s full of all the wrong people.
“CEOs and boards don’t care about 99 per cent of the metrics that marketers track, but they do care about revenue and profit,” said Fergus Gloster, managing director EMEA for Marketo. “The right metrics and marketing analytics will empower marketers to move from historical, backwards looking measurement to decision-focused management.”
Marketo has created The Definitive Guide to Marketing Metrics & Analytics, to help marketers take more control over the revenue process, build the respect of their organisational peers, and earn a seat at the revenue table. The guide is available for download at http://www.marketo.com/b2b-marketing-resources/best-practices/the-definitive-guide-to-marketing-metrics-and-marketing-analytics.php
