According to the IPA Database, campaigns built around clear business objectives can quadruple effectiveness.
But what is Effectiveness, anyway?
Effectiveness is the measure by which your marketing achieved your business goals. Measuring Effectiveness means asking if the campaign increased your market share, brought more revenue, or recruited more customers.
This is different from measuring Efficiency which is the effort required to achieve that goal.
We spend a lot of time on measuring Efficiency (such as ROI or ROAS) but not nearly as much on Effectiveness.
Why is that?
Because it’s hard to get sales data and often brands don’t measure pre and post-campaign changes in consumer behaviour.
So, we obsess over proxy metrics such as Likes, Reach and Impressions.
We assume that if people are engaging with our brand they must also be willing to buy it.
That may be true, but it doesn’t answer the question: Did your campaign improve your market share, change the preference for your brand, or bring more sales revenue?
In other words:
Measuring Efficiency is not the same as measuring Effectiveness.
The IPA Database has been gathering marketing case studies since the 1980s and all 1400+ of them that drove measurable business results have one thing in common: They were planned around effectiveness targets.
How to start planning your campaigns around effectiveness?
#1 Set numeric targets for business objectives (sales, revenue, profits etc.) and consumer behaviour objectives (reach, frequency, propensity etc.)
#2 Be thorough and make sure that your numbers add up. Check your Share of Voice (SOV) if you’re unsure how much you need to invest.
#3 Pay attention to setting leading and lagging metrics but do not mix up the two.
And before rolling up your sleeves for sorting out message hierarchy and the correct way to emphasise your marketing assets, follow this advice from Les Binet & Sarah Carter: Adopt a “freer approach to the creative process, counterbalanced by a rigorous approach to objective setting and evaluation.”
Every marketing manager and planner should have that quote framed and hung on a wall right next to this one:
Be creative and measure what happens. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, go back and be creative again.
- Leslie Moeller & Edward Landry
Have an Effective week!
Aliyar