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Building SMEs Into Thought Leaders

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Have you made a marketing New Year's resolution? If you have, we hope that you have devoted at least one to marketing performance management (MPM).

As inspiration, here are four resolutions to choose from, along with a few tips for bringing them to fruition.

1. Resolve to connect marketing to business results

In "The Evolved CMO," a recent Forrester report, CMOs are reminded that to prove their value and justify their investments they "must tie marketing closer to business results." Most marketers think they are already doing so, but the issue wouldn't be such an issue if that were true.

Considering all the metrics we can and do collect, it's easy to think we are already connecting our marketing to business results, but if your metrics don't provide a direct link, you're missing the mark.

To see whether you're on the mark, here is a quick test: Is it clear in your marketing plan how activities and outputs roll up to outcomes and business results? If you answered "no," then the first step is to revisit your marketing plan.

Most marketing plans are created in a presentation, spreadsheet, or other written document, but those formats do not lend themselves to communicating the relationship. Consider exploring an alternative approach.

2. Resolve to make marketing relevant to customers and the C-suite
 
According to the recent Forrester/ITSMA/VEM Marketing Performance Management study, less than 10% of CEOs use Marketing-provided data to make strategic decisions.

If we're not contributing to the strategic direction of the organization, then we don't have a seat at the table. When that's the case, Marketing becomes viewed primarily as a tactical execution arm rather than a value generator.

To fix this problem, it may be time to tone up your data and analytical capabilities. I know, if you hear "Big Data" one more time... but, we're not talking about big data, we're talking about left brain. Remember in math class, even though you came up with the right answer, the teacher always wanted you to "show your work"? Not much has changed, the C-Suite expects the same thing.

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Four Marketing Performance Management Resolutions for 2014

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Laura Patterson

Laura Patterson is the president of VisionEdge Marketing. A pioneer in Marketing Performance Management, Laura has published four books and she has been recognized for her thought leadership, winning numerous industry awards.