Once again, Katie Paine is leading the thought leadership charge on the topic of measurement. She's asking for
those in the marketing/PR field to offer up what they believe are the best and worst measurement concepts in the last decade.
I'm a guy who believes in measurement. So, here's my two cents on the good bad and ugly of what’s been created and discussed over the last 10 years. (in reverse order, of course):
The Ugly
1) Advertising equivalency is as strong as ever - In many PR camps, this is still the case. This concept which began in the stone ages (earned media publicity is compared to the advertising equivalency in space, inches and/or amount of broadcast time), will just never die. It provides zero value. Yet, it costs a lot to analyze. And in the end, marketers have a measurement report that tells them absolutely nothing about how successful their program is. Way to go, industry...
2) Using technology for technology sake - I've watched one vendor after another sprout up with these "magical" offerings. In many cases, these companies have created algorithms, software architecture and lots of complex metrics formulas that are just too damn hard to understand. Sure, some can push data to you in a moment's time. Others can provide scores and analytics of vast digital and media points that could never have been retrieved before. The problem though, is that if we can't really understand what's behind the score, metric or analysis, then how do we know what's being fed to us is even correct?
There are too many technologies that can't be verified to provide accurate outputs or outcomes and that scares me.
3) The human touch - On this same note, technology has begun to replace the inefficiencies of human labor. In many ways, that's really positive. Where it took hundreds of man hours to collect and tabulate data for a particular media or digital metrics program before, now the right software formulas can do the same work in a half hour. That's amazing… except, let's not forget the value that our professional analysis and insights provide.
There isn't a measurement system in existence that can offer up strategic and prescriptive strategies and tactics to tackle the problems or opportunities that became apparent through computerized number crunching. We are moving too quickly into a world where human analysis is being replaced by intelligent software. That is a disaster waiting to happen as we deal with the most pressing corporate topics like reputation and sales.
The Bad
1) One standard to measure all - Much like the consumer technology world is still trying to create one PDA that will do everything for the customer, our PR industry continues to search for one standard that can measure any media, event, trade show, digital program, etc. Maybe we'll find this golden standard. But, I don't understand why that "Holy Grail" is deemed so important.
Rather, I think what is critical is that specific metrics are tailored for each client and every campaign based on its individual needs. Might we lose something in cost and efficiency by having various standards? Yes. But, as long as the standard is accurate and clearly measures something that matters, who cares.
2) Information overload - We still receive far too many reports, graphs, analysis and reams of wasted paper from measurement specialists. Sorry to be so direct on this. But, I think that many companies providing these reports feel that the more data they hand over, the more value it will seem like they are providing. Very few are actually marketers or public relations professionals though. If they were, they'd also understand how little we care about quantity versus quality.
The Good
1) Real time metrics can lead to immediate action – It’s exciting to see that almost any issue, campaign or disaster can be monitored in real time now. This means that as data is pushed to our desk tops, we can immediately make actionable decisions to try and change opinions, push out our messages and/or contain a negative situation. Of course, this leads to an entirely new set of challenges. But, it’s great to see how linked metrics and real time campaigns are now. This will only become that much more powerful.
2) Better products make us more sophisticated – There’s no doubt that a number of great offerings exist out there today. I won’t start naming them, but we now have the ability to benchmark competitive programs at a very sophisticated level. Digital analytical tools allow us to figure out exactly who our programs are reaching and what impact they may be having. And, through the integration of creative graphical offerings with back end software, we can provide immensely appealing dashboards which allow clients to see their program’s achievements at a glance.
3) The industry has brought outsiders in...and that's good – Let’s face it. Marketers/PR practitioners are very good at what they do. One of these strengths isn’t the ability to provide real analytical tools and research methodologies that measure campaigns. I think that the industry has done a very good job of reaching outside the profession to bring in those who are professional researchers, statisticians, and just big thinkers. This was a must need to ensure that our offerings are accurate and dig deep into business insights.
Overall, our industry still has a long way to go. If you have any thoughts on this topic, please fire away.
I'm a guy who believes in measurement. So, here's my two cents on the good bad and ugly of what’s been created and discussed over the last 10 years. (in reverse order, of course):
The Ugly
1) Advertising equivalency is as strong as ever - In many PR camps, this is still the case. This concept which began in the stone ages (earned media publicity is compared to the advertising equivalency in space, inches and/or amount of broadcast time), will just never die. It provides zero value. Yet, it costs a lot to analyze. And in the end, marketers have a measurement report that tells them absolutely nothing about how successful their program is. Way to go, industry...
2) Using technology for technology sake - I've watched one vendor after another sprout up with these "magical" offerings. In many cases, these companies have created algorithms, software architecture and lots of complex metrics formulas that are just too damn hard to understand. Sure, some can push data to you in a moment's time. Others can provide scores and analytics of vast digital and media points that could never have been retrieved before. The problem though, is that if we can't really understand what's behind the score, metric or analysis, then how do we know what's being fed to us is even correct?
There are too many technologies that can't be verified to provide accurate outputs or outcomes and that scares me.
3) The human touch - On this same note, technology has begun to replace the inefficiencies of human labor. In many ways, that's really positive. Where it took hundreds of man hours to collect and tabulate data for a particular media or digital metrics program before, now the right software formulas can do the same work in a half hour. That's amazing… except, let's not forget the value that our professional analysis and insights provide.
There isn't a measurement system in existence that can offer up strategic and prescriptive strategies and tactics to tackle the problems or opportunities that became apparent through computerized number crunching. We are moving too quickly into a world where human analysis is being replaced by intelligent software. That is a disaster waiting to happen as we deal with the most pressing corporate topics like reputation and sales.
The Bad
1) One standard to measure all - Much like the consumer technology world is still trying to create one PDA that will do everything for the customer, our PR industry continues to search for one standard that can measure any media, event, trade show, digital program, etc. Maybe we'll find this golden standard. But, I don't understand why that "Holy Grail" is deemed so important.
Rather, I think what is critical is that specific metrics are tailored for each client and every campaign based on its individual needs. Might we lose something in cost and efficiency by having various standards? Yes. But, as long as the standard is accurate and clearly measures something that matters, who cares.
2) Information overload - We still receive far too many reports, graphs, analysis and reams of wasted paper from measurement specialists. Sorry to be so direct on this. But, I think that many companies providing these reports feel that the more data they hand over, the more value it will seem like they are providing. Very few are actually marketers or public relations professionals though. If they were, they'd also understand how little we care about quantity versus quality.
The Good
1) Real time metrics can lead to immediate action – It’s exciting to see that almost any issue, campaign or disaster can be monitored in real time now. This means that as data is pushed to our desk tops, we can immediately make actionable decisions to try and change opinions, push out our messages and/or contain a negative situation. Of course, this leads to an entirely new set of challenges. But, it’s great to see how linked metrics and real time campaigns are now. This will only become that much more powerful.
2) Better products make us more sophisticated – There’s no doubt that a number of great offerings exist out there today. I won’t start naming them, but we now have the ability to benchmark competitive programs at a very sophisticated level. Digital analytical tools allow us to figure out exactly who our programs are reaching and what impact they may be having. And, through the integration of creative graphical offerings with back end software, we can provide immensely appealing dashboards which allow clients to see their program’s achievements at a glance.
3) The industry has brought outsiders in...and that's good – Let’s face it. Marketers/PR practitioners are very good at what they do. One of these strengths isn’t the ability to provide real analytical tools and research methodologies that measure campaigns. I think that the industry has done a very good job of reaching outside the profession to bring in those who are professional researchers, statisticians, and just big thinkers. This was a must need to ensure that our offerings are accurate and dig deep into business insights.
Overall, our industry still has a long way to go. If you have any thoughts on this topic, please fire away.
"We are moving too quickly into a world where human analysis is being replaced by intelligent software."
Well said! As I've mentioned before in other comment streams, no matter how sophisticated the tools, at some point people need to take over.
Joseph
@RepuTrack
Posted by: Joseph Fiore | January 11, 2010 at 05:22 PM
Amen. Thanks for your comments.
Posted by: ed | January 12, 2010 at 03:58 PM
Ed;
Thanks for an interesting post - just found your blog a moment ago and enjoyed your take on Measurement (or not, as the case may be).
I thought I would pass on a few links which help people to calculate ROI, as it's a hot topic these days. Part of the reason for that I think, is the very tools you think may exist as technology for technology's sake: Inbound Marketing Automation certainly boasts a plethora of tools and techniques, and yes, often they are not used properly and don't deliver their real benefits. No matter how whizz-banging a tool is, it's not any better than the person using it. But the tools do help to generate leads, and then score, grade, qualify and nurture them, and then feed them into a CRM so you can sell them your products and services. And when you do, you can record how much product or service you sold and feed this number back into your Marketing Suite of tools, to allow you to calculate the ROI of the campaign. These 3 links are to posts which explain:
1) How to calculate the ROMI of your website as a whole: http://bit.ly/6bFSvs
2) A list of the 10 best free ROI calculators on the web: http://bit.ly/7fwBkF
3) How to build your own ROI calculator (perhaps for your social media campaign): http://bit.ly/6IGZQh
Posted by: Eric Goldman | January 12, 2010 at 09:45 PM
Great comments, Eric. Thanks for posting.
The third link seems like a really good one.
Having big thinkers who can put any measurement results into perspective is absolutely critical (as you wrote).
Thx
Posted by: Ed Moed | January 15, 2010 at 08:44 AM