Marketing strategies now and future. It's all in the numbers.
I attend the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) in Chicago this week and discovered something interesting. Not surprising, but a theme. And that theme was numbers. Math, measurement, and analytics.
The first year of OMS in Chicago three years ago, the theme focused on the user experience. Web usability, email marketability, engagement...etc. Some discussions of measurement. This year, every session, and every speaker discussed applications for measurement, scoring, segmentation, even cohorts. I felt like I was back at The NPD Group discussing research operations.
This theme has been widely supported for those keeping up with marketing news. C-level's demanding more from marketers to prove their value. The internet enabled tracking and measurement which is changing the skills required for marketing today. In the past, measurement was typically discussed only in traditional direct marketing channels (snail mail). Today, there are ways to measure, fairly quickly and instantly, everything online (and moving to the TV medium with cable). For the last few years I've been preaching to my students "If you're only in marketing because you hate math, you'll need to think again".
There is always a need for the creative side. But today, analytic skills are taking a front seat and required for those serious about marketing. Finally marketers have a plethora of metrics to prove out value to the C-level.
Now, however, I predict perhaps the coming of the 'paralysis of analysis' which I experienced in my category management days at Frito-Lay. Too much data. Where to start? Or no decison because there isn't enough data. I'm hoping analytics elevates the presence of marketing in organizations and enables alignment, but hope it doesn't tip too far off the scales.
What do you think?
Jackie
The first year of OMS in Chicago three years ago, the theme focused on the user experience. Web usability, email marketability, engagement...etc. Some discussions of measurement. This year, every session, and every speaker discussed applications for measurement, scoring, segmentation, even cohorts. I felt like I was back at The NPD Group discussing research operations.
This theme has been widely supported for those keeping up with marketing news. C-level's demanding more from marketers to prove their value. The internet enabled tracking and measurement which is changing the skills required for marketing today. In the past, measurement was typically discussed only in traditional direct marketing channels (snail mail). Today, there are ways to measure, fairly quickly and instantly, everything online (and moving to the TV medium with cable). For the last few years I've been preaching to my students "If you're only in marketing because you hate math, you'll need to think again".
There is always a need for the creative side. But today, analytic skills are taking a front seat and required for those serious about marketing. Finally marketers have a plethora of metrics to prove out value to the C-level.
Now, however, I predict perhaps the coming of the 'paralysis of analysis' which I experienced in my category management days at Frito-Lay. Too much data. Where to start? Or no decison because there isn't enough data. I'm hoping analytics elevates the presence of marketing in organizations and enables alignment, but hope it doesn't tip too far off the scales.
What do you think?
Jackie
Posted by Jackie Kuehl at 5/28/2009 6:47 PM 
Categories: tactics,tips,marketing strategies
Tags: analytics best practices marketing strategies tactics
Categories: tactics,tips,marketing strategies
Tags: analytics best practices marketing strategies tactics
Do you think it was only a matter of time before analytics took over marketing? It seems like a long overdue shift to me. At the agency I've definitely seen an organizational change to reflect a more analytical approach.
Do you think it is possible to be too analytical in marketing? If so, any idea what that threshold looks like?
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Hi Mike,
I don't think 'too analytic' is a problem anywhere if the information used is relevant and leading the organization toward an objective. However, as I mentioned from my CPG days, there could be a tendency to eventually be paralyzed by data. It is a problem if first, an organization is overwhelmed by data where they don't know where to start, (or start running in all directions) or second if they won't make a decision unless they have a plethora of information.
Information is only good to the organization if it's assisting in the decision making process toward a goal. A company should start w/their objectives and determine the information needed to assess and measure that objective. Some data is critical, and some is just nice to have. Can't loose focus.
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Analytics are important for judging success, but the bottom line is still CONTENT: "Whether your content-marketing strategy is fulfilled through marketing or public relations activities, you should think about providing value and worry less about measuring clicks and hits." --Valeria Maltoni, in Conversation AgentContent
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If Valaria is talking about websites and adding value with copy I can see where she is coming from. But content is one piece of the pie in marketing and analytics go WAY beyond clicks and hits. That's the tip of the iceburg and in itself, isn't really valuable.
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I'm commenting as a follow-up to this blog entry as I read an article in the NY Times from Sunday. The article states: Where the data guys were once an afterthought in a marketing presentation, now they are at the core of the online strategy and The shift to data-based campaigns is forcing marketers to learn new skills and drawing a new breed of worker to Madison Avenue. While most data executives now in the field came from media backgrounds, they are recruiting Wall Street math geniuses because the job requires hourly adjustments in strategy based on numbers.
See the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/business/media/31ad.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
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Now, however, I predict perhaps the coming of the 'paralysis of analysis' which I experienced in my category management days at Frito-Lay. Too much data. Where to start? Or no decison because there isn't enough data. I'm hoping analytics elevates the presence of marketing in organizations and enables alignment, but hope it doesn't tip too far off the scales.
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