Benchmarking: A Best-Practice for Improving Marketing Performance (Part 1)
Ad Age's article published on January 5, 2009 ("Economy Weighs Heavily on Marketing Execs for 2009") started with, "Marketing executives are tired of buzzwords such as Web 2.0, blogs and social networking."
The article goes on to say that marketers are going back to the basics with an emphasis on addressing four areas: customer satisfaction, customer retention, marketing ROI, and brand loyalty.
While the economy certainly weighs heavy on all of our minds, marketers who use this opportunity wisely to improve performance and demonstrate their value will fare the best.
Our work reveals that CEOs and CMOs are interested in seeing marketing organizations improve their performance in two key areas: effectiveness (the ability to produce the desired result) and efficiency (reducing waste). The economic environment makes these efforts even more top of mind.
Often the question that remains is this: How much do we need to improve?
One way to assess your organization's performance and to understand what changes to make is through benchmarking. Robert Camp suggests that by using benchmarking to identify and replicate "best practices," a company can enhance its business performance.
→ end article preview
Read the Full Article
Comments
Hello Laura,
Great points about benchmarking. One thing I have seen that improves the benchmarking experience and the impact of the recommendations and resulting actions, is to first begin with an audit of marketing activities. This process alone is often very enlightening, even more so if the activities are linked to strategic campaigns and programs, and corporate or departmental goals and objectives. As many find, a lot of our day-to-day activities are often very tactical and basically fire-fighting initiatives. A comprehensive audit (which can be a simple extension of the yearly budgeting process) can reveal where emphasis and resources are focused, and perhaps where they could be better focused. While benchmarking can result in the same thing, it usually does not as organizations often benchmark and measure what they can, rather than what they should.
I look forward to reading your next installment about benchmarking.
Thanks
Alden Cushman
SiriusDecisions
Lost in a sea of social and new media terminology, we often forget the reasons these platforms/tools exist: Satisfy & Retain Customers, Increase ROI & enhance brand awareness for current and future business. Good to go back to the basics. Thanks for reminding me.