A Transformative Culture of Measurement

I’m fascinated by change, as change is the only constant. And change is good for ADA (attention-deficit advantaged) people like me – which is probably the reason I’ve spent so my much time in the tech biz. However, it seems the rate of change is accelerating. Gordon Moore surely had it right.

Next week I’ll be in Austin at the huge international music, film and interactive confab, SXSW addressing the question, Has Math Killed Marketing Creativity? I’m debating the topic with classic ad guys who think it has (at least that’s the position they take for a good show). Guess what side I’ll take? Math is key to marketing in the future. Move over finance dept, as it’s now critical to build an entire “Culture of Measurement” because we now can. I list some lowest hanging fruit below.

Analytics drive smarketing: sales and marketing alignment

We work in a “smarketing” world where the lines between sales and marketing are blurring as it’s now possible to optimize every conversion step of the lead across the company, from the initial reach campaign – to close and everything in-between. But marketing automation, web analytics, social media, and CRM tools are useless without both process and operational change. Too few ask, “What are my goals, and how will I know when I reach them”?

These new applications force marketing and sales alignment to be more deliberate. Math doesn’t do well with fuzziness. Key questions need to be addressed – what is the definition of an inquiry or lead? Is a lead different from a sales ready lead? What is the definition of an opportunity, who owns it, and how can it be optimized? Who’s responsible, marketing or sales? Maybe we need a Chief Smarketing Officer?

It’s a fact that these technologies enable sales to act marketing-like, while marketing can be held more accountable (like sales) – measured with quotas. But our process lags behind the promise enabled by these applications. There is good news, however, as early adopters are seeing dramatic ROI numbers. What should the rest do? That depends, and I have a few thoughts on this topic for future blogs.

Analytics drive product direction and user engagement

Smarketing is a start, but the product lifecycle can be optimized through analytics as well, and forward leaning companies are asking questions like – What are my users’ behavior and where do they get stumped? In a cloud environment we easily can monitor individual and aggregate behavior, and like a web site, optimize their engagement within the product using the analytic tools of our trade. We can even “campaign” to these users, using marketing automation tools and scoring to present offers at unique “up sell points” during the user session (but let’s be careful here). While this is powerful for converting prospects, the data is also key for customer retention. It’s much more effective to keep a customer than to replace them. An engaged customer is a happy customer.

Analytics drive new distribution models: Freemium & B to I

Marketing in a B to B environment is undergoing a transformation as (mostly) gone are the days of field marketing (expect for in the largest companies like Oracle) with their Vegas events and golf junkets. Behold a new era of marketing that some are calling B to I, or “Business to Individual”, marketing where B to B marketers use the tricks of their consumer marketing cousins. The Freemium distribution model is one of those, and it too is driven by analytics. We know that the Freemium model has shown great effectiveness in the B to C long tail environment, but how will it do in the B to B sector? Logmein and LinkedIn suggest the answer.

New tools are creating a transformative culture of measurement. Best practices are emerging. I hope you check back here often as we share our latest thoughts and observations.

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