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Measuring Marketing ROI

The environmental impacts on an MROI initiative comprise the organizational and infrastructure support and barriers within the company that affect progress in measuring MROI. The Conference Board survey covered a broad range of businesses in terms of size (measured by revenue), nature of the business (B2B, B2C, or a combination of both), and other organizational aspects.

Companies engaged primarily in B2B activity appear to be somewhat less likely to be making progress than those with a consumer component: almost half (48 percent) of B2B companies reported they were just starting or making no progress, while only 18 percent of other businesses were still at this initial stage. Similarly, only half of B2B companies had been working at MROI for longer than a year, whereas 77 percent of other companies had been doing so for more than a year.

While B2B companies tend to be more sales-driven and place less emphasis on marketing, no evidence was found suggesting a correlation between MROI, company size, business type, or other organizational characteristics. Notably, larger marketing departments were found to be no more successful in implementing ROI-driven marketing efforts than smaller ones.

from Managing and Measuring Return on Marketing Investment (CB-1435)

SMS Marketing

Receiving an SMS message is a more intrusive event than receiving an email or a piece of paper direct mail, with consumers feeling that the phone demands their instant attention. This means that for most consumers, SMS marketing will only be trusted when the message delivered has this kind of importance. An example where there are compelling benefits is British Airways’ decision, announced in December 2005, to use SMS marketing to keep consumers updated on services and flights. Notifying delays or cancellations promptly via SMS will create goodwill (or at least, minimize annoyance) among BA passengers.

However, this will not always be the case: it is hard to envisage consumers feeling the same feelings of goodwill if they receive a message informing them of a new, sharper razor. This has been exacerbated by the efforts of unscrupulous marketers in the early days of SMS messaging, illegally sending bulk messages. According to a survey carried out in 2005 by Textalert, customers’ biggest concern when signing up to a textalert service is the fear of such mobile ‘spam’ messages. Getting around this consumer prejudice may involve special offers (with the text message on the consumer’s phone serving as a discount coupon), or notification of important and time-sensitive events (such as music or sports tickets going on sale). Even in these cases, mass marketing through basic text messages is not flexible enough to be more than a curiosity.

from Future Online Strategies and Technologies: Creating Value, Improving Communications and Driving Online Business in the Verticals (RB-0094)

Creative Business-to-Business Technology Marketing

To a degree though, in spite of some different methodologies and approaches being often employed, whether an agency is involved in creating the campaign strategy or the campaign is developed in-house, the process of campaign development is either very similar or no different. A top-down methodology is, for example, quite logical. It enables the alignment of corporate and campaign objectives to maximise value. Be aware that there are some agencies that will gladly provide you with a newly branded logo, which has no strategic substance behind it, and then off you go lad! This approach may be fine in certain circumstances, but it won’t necessarily solve anything or deliver long-term strategic value. The top-down approach on the other hand covers all of the bases: corporate vision and strategy, right down to marketing, and the tactical design and delivery of the campaign.

from Creative B2B Marketing Campaigns (BL-5554)

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