It was a treat to work with ITSMA and Forrester on this year’s annual Marketing Performance Management (MPM) Survey. We all thank those of you who took the time to complete the survey. Data from over 400 completed surveys helps us all to understand how well organizations are measuring, managing, and reporting on marketing performance. There were some recurring themes and many new insights.

We were initially perplexed to learn that leadership teams are not using the marketing data that they have available.  We know that most marketers are tracking and sharing a number of metrics with their leadership team. Some do this via a dashboard. Yet, just nine percent of CEOs and six percent of CFOs leverage marketing data to support strategic decisions. As a result, we weren’t surprised that the number of Marketers earning an A from the C-Suite for their ability to demonstrate their value, impact and contribution remains flat. Not to sound like an old worn out record, but until Marketing uses metrics and creates dashboards that show how our investments are moving the needle of the company, we will continue to be seen as a cost department and struggle to earn our place at the table.

As we began to dig into the data we were able to understand why. Two factors stood out:

1.  The data revealed that the metrics marketers’ track and share focus on activity and efficiency rather than effectiveness and how they are impacting and contributing to the business.
2.  Marketers primarily rely on their CRM and MAP systems for their data and reports.

The over reliance upon CRM and MAP systems is a potential pitfall. Designed to help us, these systems may actually be getting in our way. They are useful for providing a view into marketing program activity and the pipeline – only one of the many important roles of marketing. But, CRM and MAP systems fail to produce the level of information and metrics that are useful for facilitating strategic decisions at the executive level.

As we reach the midpoint of summer, many of you will begin planning for your next fiscal year. The planning cycle serves as excellent milestone for taking an alternative approach. The marketing plan can serve as a catalyst for improving the alignment of marketing initiatives and investment more directly to business outcomes. It also helps to establish more outcome-based metrics and create a more strategically oriented marketing dashboard. Send me an email, at laurap@visionedgemarketing.com if you’re open to learning how to strengthen your efforts in these areas so marketing becomes a more strategic player at the table.

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