How Measurement Tools Are Impacting The Entire Marketing World

Marketing Measurement on the Rise

For those who frequently read our blog, you well know that we talk a lot about Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). We do this for multiple reasons. 1) We’re a bunch of nerds and enjoy using numbers to justify business and marketing decisions. 2) We hear the increasingly deafening cry of marketers who constantly have their bosses breathing down their necks saying, “what’s the return on investment?!”; and we’d like to do our best to help you out. 3) ROMI is a particular area of expertise for us and a growing area of demand from our clients (sorry for the shameless plug). Ifbyphone, a voice-based marketing automation firm, recently published the 2013 State of Marketing Measurement Survey. We thought this study really drove home some of the most important trends with marketing measurement and provided data to back up their points (that’s really what this is about, right?). Let’s take a look at some of the key findings from the report.

CEO Support on the Rise

Good news, CEO’s are starting to realize the importance of marketing measurement and are viewing it as a “growth engine”. With the development of marketing measurement tools, CEO’s have become more involved in marketing activities. The study showed that over half of CEOs (55 percent) receive marketing metrics frequently (monthly, weekly or daily). This is excellent news for marketers because the more CEO’s can see the value of measurement technology, the less you have to push for new measurement tools and you and the CEO are more on the same page with return on investments.

Increase in Marketing Budget

Now that CEO’s are seeing the value of marketing measurement tools, combined with their growing demand for tracking data, we’re seeing an increase in marketing budgets across the board. The study showed that 45 percent of respondents reported an increase in their marketing budgets in the past year.

Emergence of the “Growth Hacker”

A “growth hacker” can simply be defined as marketers who combine marketing knowledge with a strong technical background to drive growth. In other words, a marketer with strong analytical/technical skills. In a recent article we took a stab at identifying why some marketers struggle with analytics. As we see the advancement of measurement tools, marketers must adapt to the demand for the hybrid skill-set (marketer/analytics expert). The study showed that 25% of respondents now have a Growth Hacker on their marketing team, the same percentage that have Product Managers.

If you can’t tell, we’re passionate about marketing measurement; and really about making sound, fact-based decisions. The data and tools are readily available is some form or another, so there really is no excuse anymore. Marketers should look at this report and overall trend as a really good thing. The better we can integrate measurement into our marketing process, the better decisions we’ll make.