If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “you can’t measure marketing” I would be wearing Chanel. Every. Day.
You CAN measure your marketing – true, some metrics may be more challenging to uncover than others. But I am convinced every marketing tactic is able to be measured in multiple ways.
Why is measurement important? Well, let me put it to you this way: if I didn’t weigh myself occasionally I wouldn’t be saving up to wear Chanel, I’d be saving up to wear a Ray’s Outdoors tarpaulin. And if I didn’t keep track of my wedding anniversaries I may have forgotten I’d been married for 10 years last week (noting, dear reader, that Schapelle Corby served only 9 years for trafficking drugs into Bali...).
Here are a few common marketing channels and examples of how they can be measured:
Brand perception/awareness: Focus group discussions, quantitative surveys, concept testing surveys
Print advertising: QR codes, dedicated website sub domains, Google analytics, coupon codes, dedicated telephone lines
Broadcast advertising: Attitude survey pre and post broadcast campaign
Digital tactics: Pay-per-click data, Google analytics, website visitation data, completed online forms, social media data
Events: Bookings, attendees, participant exit surveys
PR: Editorial mentions and equivalent dollar value, impact on other tactics eg website visitation
Direct marketing: list growth, churn rate, redemption rate, cost per redeeming subscriber, unique opens, bounces, click throughs, unsubscribers, shares
Service quality: mystery shopping, exit surveys
Of course, the low-tech approach of asking your customers “how did you find out about us?” is always a good fallback position.
Still doubtful that you can’t measure marketing? Then send your dollar to me c/o the Geelong Advertiser!