Nucleus - Marketing and Design Newsletter

What’s my ROI? It’s the marketing mantra for the new millennium. Countless publications, presentations, seminars (and its ubiquitous online cousin the webinar), whitepapers and blogs have been dedicated to helping businesses maximize the return on their marketing investment.

Where am I going and how do I get there?

Any marketing ROI discussion starts with your specific business objectives. Assess where you are. Then determine the most valuable metrics to help you get where you want to be. Some Metrics you may wish to consider include:

• Sales revenue generated by marketing activity
• Changes in market share
• Increased brand awareness
• Changing brand perception
• Improved customer loyalty
• Number of leads generated by a specific program

All metrics are not created equal

Some metrics are more easily measurable than others—responses to specific activities or programs including click-throughs and conversions from an email or Web page… leads captured… promo codes tracked… and actual widgets sold. Determining the impact of advertising, customer loyalty programs and other softer brand marketing initiatives requires much more work.

Today however savvy marketers are digging deeper. Using more sophisticated tools, technology, and data analysis methodologies, they are able to answer the strategic questions that will ultimately drive their success:

• What programs have driven the greatest revenue?
• Which leads are most likely to turn into sales?
• Which customers drive the greatest revenue?
• What is the potential lifetime value of that customer?
• What messages have they been most responsive to?

So this year whether you invest thousands or millions in marketing activities resolve to measure the ROI of your efforts. And make 2010 your best year yet.