CHAPTER 2

Secret #1: The Right Approach to Performance Measurement

“If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it.”

—Lord Kelvin

If you think that strategizing the right measurement metrics is easy and can be handed off to someone else, it’s time to wake up, smell the coffee, roll up your sleeves, and read this chapter on measurement. In this chapter we will:

  • Provide a strategy and framework for building the right Performance Measurements for your marketing programs.
  • Describe the seven critical performance metrics necessary for every digital marketer to master.
  • Identify the one performance metric that is the most important one!

CEOs and CFOs of Fortune 1000 corporations are demanding that their marketing departments provide a clear return on investment for the millions they spend on advertising and marketing. Likewise, in small businesses, there is a growing need to account for every dollar spent. Across the board, we’re all looking to measure and increase the value we get for our marketing programs.

“Marketers have been challenged to be more accountable by CEOs who are looking for shareholder return and value,” said Bob Liodice, the president and CEO of the Association of National Advertisers, in an interview with eMarketer. “The challenge for marketing is ‘Prove to me that marketing works. Prove to me that no matter how you slice it, the investments are paying back in both short- and long-term deliverables.’ ”

In fact, in countless surveys and studies over the past few years, ...

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