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A Measure of Success

There is increasing pressure on marketers nowadays to maximise the return of their investments. But are they measuring the right things? Les Binet and Peter Field have written a fascinating book called ‘Marketing in the Era of Responsibility’. The authors have analysed 880 case studies, derived from a database collated from the IPA Effectiveness Awards. The book’s findings challenge much of the perceived wisdom relating to the measurement and effectiveness of marketing communications.

The authors not only look at some of the main factors behind profitable marketing, but also expose some common practices that can lead to waste and inefficiency. Their key findings are:
 
You need clear, prioritised business objectives. Ultimately, your main objective should be to increase your profitability. If you concentrate on business outcomes, there can be a tendency to focus purely on increasing sales. But these don’t necessarily increase profit.
 
You should have a chain of potential objectives – including changing attitudes, behaviour and achieving business objectives – rather than just a single campaign objective. Sometimes people will only focus on improving brand health (i.e. changing attitude), but this is just a means to an end. Overall, there is still a need to focus on profit.
 
The best way to increase profitability is to justify your brand’s price premium – i.e. to reduce price sensitivity. This should be a key communications objective.
 
It’s easier to increase penetration than loyalty. Many campaigns are designed to increase loyalty, but this is really difficult. It is easier and more profitable to increase penetration (i.e. to find more customers), rather than to increase the share of wallet from your existing customers.
 
Emotional campaigns are more effective than rational ones. In the last issue of 5MI, one of our articles (‘Decisions, decisions…’) looked at the different contributions made by the rational and the emotional sides of the brain. Almost all decisions are made emotionally. This is why emotional campaigns are more powerful, even in rational type categories.
 
Binet and Field suggest that you should therefore ‘aim for fame’ and make sure that your advertisement and brand are a subject of discussion. People are prepared to pay more for brands that everyone is talking about (which in turn justifies the price premium – as above).
 
This detailed book also includes further advice on making sure that your share of voice is large enough and on using a balance of different media. It comes thoroughly recommended.
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