I’ve talked about measurement’s unsolvable problem before. Attribution is quite impossible with all of the complex and untraceable connections between our offline and online lives.
That being said, there is still plenty you can do to reduce your attribution problem. While you won’t be able to give credit to each and every piece of marketing or activity that led someone to purchase your product or visit your site, you will be able to reduce a great deal of uncertainty. Continue reading
When you’re beginning a new campaign, it’s important to think through and execute at least two rounds of measurement: preliminary research and results. (There is a good argument for measuring along the way to make adjustments as well, but these two should be your priority.)
Once you have set your campaign goals (remember to make ‘em SMART), dig into pre-campaign research: Continue reading
Growing up, I watched the movie Clueless about once each week. I loved that movie. And seeing it on TV the other day reminded me of two things: 1) I missed a lot of drug and sex jokes when I was a kid, and 2) Cher’s closet can teach us a lot about measurement.
You know the closet. It has a computer catalog that can sort through individual tops and bottoms to find a perfectly matched outfit. More importantly, it will take any two pieces of clothing you’ve chosen and tell you if they don’t match.
Ideally, you should use a very similar method when brainstorming and deciding on measurement for new campaigns or programs. Think of the marketing and creative teams as Cher, the fashion selector. Analysts or dedicated measurement teams should take on the role of the computer. Continue reading
Lately my boyfriend and I have been getting into cooking. Nothing terribly fancy just yet, but we’ve been cooking homemade meals every night for a couple months now.
Whenever we select a new recipe, I try to read a few reviews and get a sense of what worked and what didn’t from others. Maybe the peanut butter flavor was too overpowering. Sometimes others recommend cooking for a shorter period of time to prevent burning. And many times, I’m left on my own to guess what will taste best.
These recent experiments got me thinking about those of us in charge of building marketing mixes. For the vast majority of brands and companies, throwing all eggs into one basket is a bad idea. We know that, and we know that using just the right mix of channels and tactics is the key to success. Continue reading
Even though The Lion King in 3D topped the box office this weekend, I raced to see the new Brad Pitt flick, Moneyball. I read the book on which the movie is based when I was in college just getting into PR and measurement. (If you haven’t yet read Michael Lewis’ book, Moneyball, I highly recommend it.)
In the movie, one baseball coach uses the power of statistics to build a record-breaking team after losing his three all-star players. The movie glosses over much of the nitty gritty math, but you walk away with the same overall message: numbers are powerful. Continue reading
Hear me out. The other day, Jay Baer wrote a blog post that made my blood boil. Absolutely boil. I’m sure my eyes bugged out at my desk, and I think I may have cursed a few times while reading it.
But you know what? It made me think. Hard. As did the comments, so read the conversation when you can.
While I get frustrated with tools like Klout claiming to be standard measure or metrics, what really frustrates me about these tools is they help lazy marketers be lazy. These tools builders know that busy marketers and other professionals using social media are looking for one-stop solutions, so they attempt to provide one. And once that tool is out there, there’s no stopping anyone from using it as they want, even if it seems ridiculous to most of us. Continue reading
Education. Time. Budget. Resources. Foresight. Successful measurement and analysis is prone to numerous roadblocks. (What did I miss?)
The big upside to the four problems I named: in an ideal situation these problems can be solved: Continue reading
Sometimes I find myself thinking (and talking) in circles about measurement. Often when I get going on a new project or concept, I find myself lost in the weeds and forgetting the big picture. This, of course, is a deadly measurement sin.
Where I most often get stuck is the nitty, gritty granular details of measurement. Do I want to look at tweets and retweets separately? Do I need to break sentiment out by channel or roll it up?
What I’m forgetting is that all metrics and measurements should tie back to a goal. If I need to slice and dice the data 100 different ways to show success, so be it. But if I’m just doing it because I can (and because it’s fun), it’s most often a waste of time. Continue reading
We keep hearing about “big data” lately. At least I do. Data is suddenly everywhere we turn, and more companies are popping up to help us collect and make sense of it.
A few years ago, big data was for IT or analysts or nerds. Marketers and PR folks are slowly jumping on the big data train, too, and companies that are learning to integrate and mine data for insights are getting ahead.
On a smaller scale, more and more we all need to understand how to find value in all of the data our consumers are producing each day (and data which results from our own work). It may not reach the scale of big data, but there are still hidden treasures hidden among news, tweets, check-ins, blog posts and Facebook pages. Continue reading
My boyfriend was recently asked to help review a new Masters program plan for a local university. Part of this plan included success metrics like the following:
– Number of students enrolled in the program
– Feedback on courses and professors from students (through annual surveys)
– Number of students who find employment (upon graduation or within six months)
– Number of students who receive a promotion or other recognition (upon graduation or within one year)
While the first two are valuable metrics for other purposes (budgeting, curriculum building, etc.), I would not necessarily consider these to be success metrics. Continue reading