Is Data-Driven Decision-Making (3D) at the Heart of Your Marketing Organization?
In last month’s blog post we discussed the first of the five core marketing processes essential to effective and efficient marketing operations — the lead management process. This was a great lead-in (no pun intended) for this month’s post on the reporting and analytics processes. Most firms, when they first dip their toes into the results reporting waters, look to report on their funnel results which depend entirely on having a functioning lead management process.
But, before we start, let’s agree on two definitions.
- Activities Reports: opens, clicks, visits, CTRs, visitors, duration, bounce, deliverability, etc.
- Results Reports: New leads, MQLs, SQLs, opportunities, renewals, new customers, bookings, Revenue, CLV
We are here to discuss the processes around producing regular, accurate, useful results reports that enable an organization to make better marketing decisions and evolve into a data-driven decision making organization.
As a CMO, I don’t have much time for activities reports; I need to understand how my department is impacting revenue on a regular basis.
Our learned colleagues at Gartner tell us that 76 percent of marketing organizations are accountable, or share accountability, for a P&L. But Aberdeen tells us that in reality only 19 percent of marketers have comprehensive tracking and reporting practices in place. Wow! There can only be one outcome if this significant gap between expectation of accountability and reality of reporting is not quickly eliminated — CEOs will be calling in United Airlines to accommodate marketing executives.
6 Steps to Build a Results Reporting Function in Marketing Operations
This dissonance between the realities of reporting and the expectation of P&L accountability led my colleague Justin Yopp and I to develop a straightforward process to transform the marketing department at The Pedowitz Group into a data-driven, decision-making organization.
Justin shared that “far too often, we see firms rush out and buy the latest in reporting software as if it were a panacea for all their reporting ailments.” We also see CMOs pursuing vanity metrics – metrics that “prove” the value of marketing instead of empowering better decisions for better performance. If you take nothing else away from this blog, please avoid being fascinated by the latest shiny software object, and do not focus on producing vanity metrics first.
- Categories:
- Strategy
- People:
- Justin Yopp
Kevin Joyce is CMO and VP of strategy services for The Pedowitz Group. He's a marketing executive with 34 years of experience in high tech, in positions in engineering, marketing, and sales. In the past 16 years Mr. Joyce has worked with many companies on their revenue marketing and demand generation strategies. With a unique combination of marketing skills and sales experience he helps bridge the gap between sales and marketing.
Mr. Joyce has successfully launched numerous products and services as a Director of Product Marketing at Sequent, as a Director of Sales at IBM, as Vice President of Marketing at Unicru, and as CEO at Rubicon Marketing Group. He has been VP of Marketing Strategy with the Pedowitz Group for more than six years. He holds a BS in Engineering from the University of Limerick, Ireland and a MBA from the University of Portland. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn or email him at kevin@pedowitzgroup.com. Download TPG’s new white paper: Introduction to the Revenue Marketing Center of Excellence here.
