• Research and Trends
  • Archives
  • Marketing Jobs
  • Contact
  • About
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
  • Home
  • Research and Trends
  • Archives
  • Marketing Jobs
No Result
View All Result
MarketingToday
  • Home
  • Research and Trends
  • Archives
  • Marketing Jobs
No Result
View All Result
MarketingToday
No Result
View All Result
Home Uncategorized

The Bottom Line on Marketing Accountability

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Marketing accountability continues to be a hot topic. The reality is that there is a lot of talk, but not an equivalent degree of action.Consider a recent study by the CMO Council that found less than 20% of top technology marketers surveyed had developed “meaningful, comprehensive measures and metrics for their marketing organizations.” The last major study on marketing ROI found that 68% of marketers were unable to determine the ROI of their initiatives.

While marketing accountability is a priority, these studies send a clear message: We’re not there yet.With all of the recent buzz over marketing ROI, the truth is, it is not necessarily the most appropriate metric for every marketing initiative. While determining marketing ROI is ideal for large initiatives and initiatives where it can be easily determined, such as direct mail or online marketing, it can be complex and cost prohibitive process to accurately determine marketing ROI on small offline branding campaigns. Don’t get me wrong, marketing ROI is the ideal measure, but it can be costly to properly implement. The majority of CFOs will agree and want to set thresholds for when marketing ROI is used as a measure of effectiveness.

The real bottom line is that CMOs need to sit down with CFOs to determine the appropriate marketing measures and who is best suited to monitor these measures.In 2002, I provided the keynote presentation for IQPC’s “Measuring and Ensuring Return on Your Marketing Investment” and recommended that CMOs work in cooperation with CFOs to determine the appropriate marketing measures. Further, I suggested exploring whether it may be most effective to have a member of the Finance department take responsibility for managing and monitoring these metrics. A number of consumer goods companies have successfully implemented such an approach. At minimum, CMOs should explore this option.A Marketing – Finance partnership is beneficial on two levels. First, it helps create important CFO buy-in of marketing measurements. Second, it can put responsibility for metrics in the hands of the most qualified staff to handle metrics. Additionally, having these measures monitored by a member of the Finance department can eliminate the need to promote marketing successes to the finance department. It also means an immediate awareness of failures, which is probably the part that scares most marketers.

There is another reason. The divide between Marketing and Finance is often the greatest between any two business departments. I believe that the CMO must make forging a strong relationship with the CFO a priority. Finance must be a partner in determining marketing metrics. This buy-in is essential to marketing gaining the organizational credibility it needs to reach its potential.

Peter DeLegge

Peter DeLegge is the CEO/CMO of job posting and career site, MarketingHire, publisher of MarketingToday and AdFails. His background includes leading digital marketing at Aon (globally) and ADT (North America), managing digital marketing globally at Motorola and consulting to many companies, as large as Unilever to small upstarts. His marketing programs and campaigns he's led have been praised as best practices in Fortune 500 marketing by the IAB, Google executives, described in numerous marketing publications as best practice case studies and presented at marketing conferences. While DeLegge was Global Director, eBusiness at Aon, it was chosen two consecutive years by eWeek as an eBusiness innovator. DeLegge was chosen as a "marketing thought leader" to keynote at the DMA's annual national B2B interactive marketing conference. MarketingHire was recently chosen as one of Money Magazine's top 3 marketing and advertising job sites. 

Recommended

Cheers, Not Jeers!” The Secret to a Winning Presentation

3 years ago

The Brand Version 2.0: Business-to-Business Brands in the Internet Age

3 years ago

Popular News

    Connect with us

    Marketing Today Newsletter

    Coming soon.

    Site Links

    • Archives
    • Research and Trends
    • Uncategorized

    About Us

    Marketing Today is a publication of Peter DeLegge consulting. It has been recommended by Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Wharton and many other colleges and business publications. We're presently preparing for a relaunch of the publication.

    • Research and Trends
    • Archives
    • Marketing Jobs
    • Contact
    • About

    © 2020 Peter DeLegge Consulting.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home

    © 2020 Peter DeLegge Consulting.