Measuring ROI or Is My Brand Working?

You are doing yourself a disservice in you measure the impact and effectiveness of marketing and branding only on the bottom line. There are far too many facets of the success equation to reduce the final assessment to that alone. Ultimately the bottom line will increase but if we expect immediate results and they don’t happen to translate into money right away, it’s easy to think things aren’t working and give up too early in the process.

The value of reputation, relationships, brand awareness and consumer attitudes,
related to your business, are impossible to measure based solely on financial returns.

A thorough evaluation of where your business is now, and the identification of the next most important goal, is a good place to start.

Other measures of ROI are:

Ønumber of leads generated
Øtotal sales revenue generated
Øchange in awareness of your brand – buzz in the marketplace
Øchange in market share
Øchange in buying pattern re products, days etc.
Øchange in intent to buy
Øincrease in incremental sales revenue
Øcustomer retention

The alignment of marketing and business strategy has resulted in recognition of the importance of marketing to overall business success. Funds are no longer being taken from marketing depart- ments as a first remedy to a shortfall elsewhere . All of that has resulted in an increased expectation of accountability for results.

Look for ways to track your progress keeping the end in mind. It is all about prioritizing, identifying and sorting the important factors that are crucial to your success, from the insignficant details.

It may feel more productive to be doing, but it is more constructive to be planning. The odds of achieving marketing success increase exponentially if you are aware of what has succeeded and failed in the past. Typically 80 to 90% of efforts are well spent on identification, planning and determining the success metrics, with the balance on execution and assessment.

The owner of a successful business or product is often reported as saying, “It seemed to develop a life of it’s own and just take off.” It could be a lucky break, but often it’s the result of years of thought, experience and a comprehensive marketing plan in action.