Don’t let the intangible nature of Marketing keep you from proving the value of your Marketing investments and strategy. The key is to address Marketing accountability.  As Sylvia Reynolds a CMO of Wells Fargo once said:

“Marketing must be a driver of tangible business results…we must start with the goal in mind and a clear way to measure that goal.” 

Understanding how to measure and communicate Marketing’s value is critical.  It is essential to Marketing accountability–besides being able to justify spending and enable us to run the Marketing organization more effectively and efficiently, knowing what is and isn’t working helps Marketing achieve greater influence and serve in a more strategic role.

Lack of accountability presents a mystery that can adversely affect the relationship between the Chief Marketing, Chief Growth, and/or Chief Revenue Officers (CMO, CGO, CRO) and the rest of the C-Suite. While most organizations realize Marketing plays a critical role in the organization, the intangible nature of Marketing contributes to the Marketing accountability mystery.

When organizations are looking for silver bullets to improve results and reduce costs, the Marketing organization that avoids the discipline associated with accountability sits in the cross-hairs. These CMOs, CGOs, and CROS might find themselves at the mercy of the C-Suite who typically take arbitrary actions such as cutting budgets or changing personnel to effect change.

When your budget is on the line, CMOs and other leaders responsible for Marketing should use accountability to build a bridge between Marketing and the rest of the organization. Contrary to popular belief Marketing is not a cost center. Investments in Marketing do translate to the bottom line. Yet most Marketing professionals neglect to demonstrate this value.

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Marketing accountability is a broad concept that encompasses Marketing measurement and effectiveness and reflects Marketing’s ability to explain the basis for its actions. Accountability has a computational aspect and covers a range of marketing capabilities, processes, and metrics.

Studies by CMO.org and Forbes Insight indicate that the emphasis on marketing accountability will persist into the foreseeable future.  Maybe you’re asking yourself what more can I do?  As a marketing professional you’re tackling the problem—adding analytical tools and Marketing technology.

The best way to approach Marketing performance management, accountability, and measurement is to see it as a continuous, repeatable process designed to help you measure, analyze, and learn so that you can make more informed decisions and successfully produce more and better predictable business outcomes.

Take the Mystery Out of Marketing Accountability

After alignment, accountability is the first and one of the most important steps marketers can take to make Marketing ROI less elusive.  Accountability is an ongoing effort and therefore should be viewed as an initiative. Approaching accountability as an initiative enables marketing to build a bridge between the work of marketing and the rest of the organization.

The Key Clues to Improve Your Accountability

These four steps will help you solve the mystery of Marketing accountability.

• apply more science to your Marketing organization
• embrace performance management
• set performance targets for your objectives and programs
• measure Marketing’s contribution, effectiveness, and efficiency

We hope improving Marketing effectiveness is one of your priorities. If you don’t have a line item on your budget for Marketing measurement or metrics; we hope you’ll consider adding this to the above-the-line budget request.

Without resources, most marketers will continue to struggle with measuring the value of Marketing and continue to see their budgets first in line when the company is looking for ways to reduce costs. Once the C-Suite understands the bottom-line value Marketing does bring to the table, you are in a much better position to defend, and perhaps increase, your Marketing budget. Your Marketing Operations team serves a critical role in solving the mystery.

Learn more about The Role of Marketing Operations in Improving Marketing Performance.

We leave you with this thought from John Rohn as you continue on your Marketing Performance Management journey. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

Ready to make your Marketing more accountable? Let’s get started!

FAQ:

1. Apply more scientific rigor to Marketing processes
2. Embrace performance management practices
3. Set clear performance targets for objectives and programs
4. Measure Marketing’s contribution, effectiveness, and efficiency

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