In these tighter economic times I would expect more businesses to be focusing on ways to NOT do what they’ve always done, so they can avoid ‘getting what we’ve always got’.
Yet I see many businesses repeating their unfortunate history.
It is most apparent in the areas of marketing and communication, where there is often a distinct lack of interest in measuring what really matters — what worked (or not) and what caused it.
That information is absolutely vital if a business wants to reduce costs and improve the return on its marketing and communication investments.
Business owners and managers are deluding themselves if they say, “I’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s working for us in marketing and communications”, but can’t back that claim with hard numbers.
Anecdotal evidence and assumption is unreliable at best, misleading or just plain wrong at worst.
Marketing professionals agree there are few, if any, ‘silver bullet’ solutions. Those who achieve an advantage do so through minor incremental improvements over an extended timescale using a test-measure-and-tweak approach.
Some improvements can be quite small, but still worth achieving. But unless they are properly measured and attributed, subsequent decisions may ignore their value or attribute them incorrectly.
Without reliable measurement, it is easy for a manager to assume existing strategies, tactics and details don’t need to adjust — or perhaps worse, a (inappropriate) change of direction is needed.
It seems such a simple thing to set up a system to track what’s working, how well, what changes have made a difference, and by how much . . . Depending on the business, the answer may be part internal system, part external market research.
So why do many businesses not have such systems?
Perceptions of ‘too difficult, too expensive’ are almost always based on minimal or outdated knowledge of what customised tracking systems can achieve and the investment required.
The core requirements for a good system are the same for all businesses. It must:
• Measure both ends of the marketing/communication chain — activities and initiatives, and new business obtained or products sold. • Enable even minor changes to be tracked and tested. • Be easy to use, both for staff inputting data, and those getting information on which to base decisions. • Automate repetitive and routine processes as much as possible, including reporting.
These requirements mean any operation larger than a micro-business is unlikely to find paper-based systems or basic spreadsheets a good use of time.
The main benefit of a good system is that it goes on working, with minor improvements and extensions from time to time, a bit like the marketing it measures.
