Analytics-based insights derived from Marketing’s data have become the lifeblood of both Marketing and the business. These data-driven decisions are the critical component in improving Marketing’s effectiveness as well as proving Marketing’s value to the business. However, in order to formulate actionable recommendations that will be of value to the business, you have to ensure that you are offering insights into the business priorities that are advantageous to the C-Suite. Doing this begins by changing your focus from budget management to performance management and operating as a Best-in-Class (BIC) Marketing Center of Excellence. An important tool for evaluating Marketing performance is benchmarking.

How well are you delivering on your commitments, and how do these measure up?

If data is the lifeblood, Marketing Performance Management (MPM)—which Forrester describes as “a discipline that governs goal setting, monitoring, and continuous optimization of Marketing’s contribution to revenue and other priority business goals” – is the heartbeat of Marketing. Performance measurement and management require marketing organizations to optimize operations and adopt best practices in order to connect their investments to results. For Marketers, it takes operating as a Center of Excellence (CoE) by transforming into a center of competency focused on value creation, customer-centricity, outcome-based planning, and the related analytics to achieve this target.

But how do you know that you’ve achieved this level of excellence? The attributes associated with excellence need to be clearly identified so you know what to strive for and when the target is achieved. Since 2001, VisionEdge Marketing’s annual Marketing Performance Management Benchmark study has explored what Marketers who earn high marks from the C-Suite do better and differently than their peers. The results indicate that marketers who earn the high marks are serving a value-creating function within the organization.

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The question, however, remains: how do you become a BIC value creator that produces long-lasting benefits for the organization? You begin by benchmarking yourself against the other leaders in the industry with the following criteria:

1. Who are you aligned to? Those Marketers who choose to align themselves with the priorities that are important to the C-Suite are critically differentiating themselves from the pack as BIC marketers and giving their organization a longer shelf life.

2. Are you measuring what will be impactful to the business? Did you know that even out of BIC marketers, only about 80% transcend other marketing organizations’ ability to select the right metrics? Being able to select the right metrics is a result of marketers knowing which business outcomes matter to the business leaders and then aligning Marketing to these outcomes.

3. Do you leverage data for a specific purpose? BIC marketers aren’t enamored with data because they love numbers. No, data has a purpose. Those who know what data they need, where it is, how to access it, and how to use it will be the ones to make solid business decisions and strategic recommendations.

4. Are your analytics descriptive or predictive? BIC marketers are making fast strides in climbing up the analytics maturity model. They are reorienting themselves quickly from implementing descriptive and diagnostic analytics to utilizing analysis for its predictive capabilities.

5. Are your performance targets quantifiable and outcome-based? If your performance targets are not aligned with what the business needs, then they will never be of value. However, even if your targets are already aimed at business outcomes, you still need to pause and ensure that they are easily measurable.

6. Have you created a dashboard that is actionable? How to design an actionable dashboard is a massive subject of its own because you need a dashboard to fulfill two functions: allowing you to improve Marketing while simultaneously proving Marketing’s value to the business. BIC marketers accomplish this dual functionality by having their dashboards oriented toward mitigating risk, facilitating decision making, and guiding course adjustments.

7. Do you pursue excellence? BIC-Marketers do not settle for the status quo. They continually strive to innovate in their ability to deliver business results by working closely with the business to prove their value. For these marketers, becoming a best-in-class center-of-excellence is the force that will continue pumping longevity and relevance through the Marketing organization.

Use the results of your benchmark to assess your gaps and the degree of the gap. Prioritize the areas you want to improve and create a plan. Hopefully, the assessment will also reveal areas where you excel. Explore how you can leverage these areas to create more customer value and competitive advantage.

Best-in-Class Marketing organizations utilize their Marketing Ops function to support their benchmarking efforts. If you’re not sure whether you can do this work, we can help. If you want to know whether your Marketing organization has the endurance necessary to operate with a Best-in-Class designation, here’s one place to start. Read the findings from the various MPM Benchmark Studies. Then contact us so we can help you accelerate your progress.

FAQ:

(written by Penn of Sintra.ai)

Q1: Why are analytics-based insights considered the “lifeblood” of Marketing and the business?
A: Because data-driven insights improve Marketing effectiveness and provide credible proof of Marketing’s value. However, insights only matter when they translate into actionable recommendations tied to business priorities—especially the priorities that are advantageous to the C-Suite.

Q2: What shift is required to make Marketing insights valuable to the C-Suite?
A: Shift from budget management to performance management and operate Marketing as a Best-in-Class (BIC) Center of Excellence (CoE). This operating model emphasizes value creation, customer-centricity, outcome-based planning, and analytics discipline—so Marketing can connect investments to results.

Q3: What is Marketing Performance Management (MPM), and why is it the “heartbeat”?
A: Forrester describes MPM as “a discipline that governs goal setting, monitoring, and continuous optimization of Marketing’s contribution to revenue and other priority business goals.” If data is the lifeblood, MPM is the heartbeat because it creates the cadence and governance for measuring performance, managing commitments, and continuously optimizing contribution.

Q4: Why is benchmarking essential for evaluating Marketing performance?
A: Because benchmarking answers two critical questions: How well are you delivering on your commitments—and how do you measure up? Without benchmarking, it is difficult to quantify gaps, prioritize improvements, or credibly claim “excellence.”

Q5: How do you know whether you have achieved Marketing excellence?
A: You must define the attributes of excellence so you know what to strive for and when the target is achieved. VisionEdge Marketing’s annual MPM Benchmark study (since 2001) examines what marketers who earn high marks from the C-Suite do better and differently—indicating these marketers operate as value creators within the organization.

Q6: What seven criteria should you use to benchmark progress toward Best-in-Class (BIC) performance?
A: Benchmark yourself against industry leaders using these criteria:

Who are you aligned to? BIC marketers align to C-Suite priorities and outcomes.
Are you measuring what is impactful to the business? Selecting the right metrics starts with knowing which business outcomes matter.
Do you leverage data for a specific purpose? Data is not collected for its own sake; it is used to drive decisions and recommendations.
Are your analytics descriptive or predictive? BIC marketers advance from descriptive/diagnostic toward predictive analytics.
Are performance targets quantifiable and outcome-based? Targets must align to business needs and be measurable.
Have you created an actionable dashboard? It must both improve Marketing and prove value—by mitigating risk, facilitating decisions, and guiding course adjustments.
Do you pursue excellence? BIC marketers continually innovate and work closely with the business to deliver results and prove value.

Q7: What should you do with your benchmark results?
A: Use them to assess gaps and the magnitude of those gaps, prioritize improvement areas, and build a plan. Also identify where you excel and leverage those strengths to create more customer value and competitive advantage.

Q8: What role does Marketing Operations play in benchmarking and BIC performance?
A: Best-in-Class organizations leverage Marketing Ops to support benchmarking through measurement discipline, data access/management, reporting, and performance management processes. If the capability is not in place, external support can accelerate progress.