Metrics & ROI articles by the best and brightest in the field

• Tackling the 'Too Hard to' Pile of Marketing Accountabilityby Laura Patterson and Theresa Kushner
  If you're like us, you probably have one of those piles on your desk that keeps being moved from one corner to another. You know, that pile you need to get to but avoid because it will take some real effort to tackle? For many marketing professionals, marketing accountability, analytics ,and ROI are in this pile. Marketers must stop avoiding this topic and tackle the pile! [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Managing Marketing Performance: The Role of Data, Analytics and Metricsby Laura Patterson
  Performance management has been applied to various parts of a business for quite a long time, particularly when it comes to manufacturing, logistics, and product development. Applying the concept to marketing is finally coming of age. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Measuring Social Marketing and Mediaby Laura Patterson
  The more quantitatively you can measure your social media, the better. And the closer those measurements are to business outcomes, even better. How rapidly people in the network engage with you and respond to your "call to action," such as write a review, participate in the blog discussion, or forward something to a colleague... can (and should!) all be measured. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• How to Target Your Prospects With Military Precisionby J. Woody Meachum
  Predicting where your prospects are online is tricky—and often expensive. And it's not always about where they are but also what are the best ways to reach them. How should you decide where to start? The military has utilized a system called CARVER, a mnemonic term for the weighting factors used to identify and prioritize targets. CARVER helps to discover the greatest opportunities to inflict the most damage while employing the lowest amount of available assets. CARVER stands for... Criticality Accessibility Recuperability (return-on-investment) Vulnerability Effect Recognizability For marketing purposes, CARVER can be applied to help determine which digital marketing tactics would work the best to target your prospects with a proper budgetary assignment. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Six Approaches to Marketing in Tight Economiesby Jim Lenskold
  Marketing pundits have advocated throughout this year that tough economic times are the right time to build bands and grow share of voice. But this will not work for every company. Here are the six approaches that can help you assess whether spending more or less is right for your business. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Marketing Champion Focused on Customer Analytics: Q&A With Paul Barsch, Marketing Director of Teradataby Roy Young
  Paul Barsch, Marketing Director at Teradata, the business intelligence and data warehousing firm, is responsible for coordinating services engineering teams to define, build, and bring new offers to market. A self-described "information junkie" with over 15 years in marketing for information technology and consulting firms, Paul challenges all marketers to bring value to their organizations by taking the analytical path to understanding customers. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Five Marketing-Plan Pitfalls to Avoidby Tim Calkins
  It's hard to do great marketing without a clear plan. Unfortunately, many marketing plans simply don't work very well; they add little value and end up on a shelf, collecting dust. Marketing leaders need to be aware of these five common pitfalls, and steer clear. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Maximizing Lead Generation Marketing ROI (Part 1): Lead Quality Countsby Jim Lenskold
  Marketers responsible for lead generation are all too familiar with some common challenges—getting closed-loop feedback from the sales organization, measuring marketing effectiveness beyond just lead quantity and cost per lead, and building strong alignment with the sales organization. As presented in the MarketingProfs' research report, "B-to-B Lead Generation: Marketing ROI and Performance Evaluation Study," effective lead-generation marketing is very much tied to overcoming these challenges to prioritize lead quality over lead quantity. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Three Ways to Improve Your Lead-Nurturing Strategyby Kathy Rizzo
  Although more than 80% of high-tech marketers say they have a lead-nurturing strategy, 64% say their strategy needs improvement, according to a February 2008 survey by TeleNet Marketing Solutions. As for which areas of overall lead-generation strategy tech marketers would like to improve in the next year, nurturing of long-term leads was the No. 1 response. Nurturing shortens the sales cycle and improves return on investment from lead-generation activities, so it is important to reconsider your nurturing strategy frequently. Consider the following three recommendations to enhance your strategy. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Five Steps to Building Brand Equity for the Small Businessby Mike O'Toole
  Everyone wants brand equity. But building it, when you are more likely to qualify for the Inc. 500 rather than the Fortune 500, can be a puzzle. Particularly when the role models for brand equity are global icons like Coca Cola, Volvo, or Sony—hardly your peer set. The good news is that the path to building brand equity is clear. Here are six simple steps you can take to get started. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Email ROI, or Kicking Our Baby Out of the Nestby Stephanie Miller
  Email continues to be a highly effective channel. But for too many marketers, email revenue per subscriber is not growing, and more and more subscribers are simply ignoring the messages. How can we continue to grow our email programs? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• The Latest SEO Trends and Metrics: What's Hot, What's Notby Stephan Spencer
  It takes time and experience to stay on the cutting edge of SEO, and more than likely you don't have that kind of time, considering your other marketing efforts. So here's a quick update on what's hot and what's not in the world of search engine optimization. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Online Research Traps That Can Derail Your Marketing Strategyby Kevin Horne
  It's hard to believe how different it was, just a mere fifteen years ago, to conduct secondary market research. There was no Internet, no Yahoo!, no Google search, no Web-accessible databases to tap. How times have changed. But, not always for the better. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• What to Test in Multivariate Testing: Identifying Site Factors (Part 3)by Eric J. Hansen
  In Part 2 of this series, the author looked at defining your success goals and what to measure when running multivariate tests. Let's now look at your site factors and learn how to select the right ones to test. By now, your marketing goals are clearly defined and you're ready to run a multivariate test to optimize your site's marketing effectiveness... but which elements, or factors, should you test? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Survey: Better Data, Measurement Abilities, and ROI Metrics Boost Marketing Performanceby Jim Lenskold
  Want to take your performance to that ideal level of highly effective and efficient marketing? It takes better access to detailed data and ROI discipline, but it also comes along with greater growth and better levels of budgets, according to the recently released study. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• How to Market Your Independent Film to Festivalsby Matthew Syrett
  Film festivals have become the prime venue where independent filmmakers launch their works to the public. Festivals offer an excellent place to build buzz about your film, find distribution deals, network, get press coverage, and experience an audience for your movie. Despite the importance of film festivals, most independent filmmakers have not really considered how best to market themselves to these venues. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Four Steps to Writing Search-Engine-Optimized Press Releasesby Kim Cornwall Malseed
  More than 90% of journalists go online to find story ideas, with 73% specifically researching press releases. With Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and free automatic email alerts from Google News so readily available, it makes sense that the Web is a prime source of consistently updated information for busy journalists. So how can your organization capitalize on these trends? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Bridging the Gap Between Email Marketing and CRMby Drew Adams
  Integrating your email marketing application and your internal databases will take time and planning. Start by selecting an email marketing application along with an open CRM application. In doing so, you will increase efficiency and ROI by bringing these powerful tools together. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• What to Measure in Multivariate Testing: Defining Your Success Goals (Part 2)by Eric J. Hansen
  In his last article, the author defined multivariate testing and how it can optimize your Web marketing, as well as five common errors to avoid. Now, he looks at what to measure in your tests and how to define your criteria for success. Before you start formulating a test hypothesis, or begin running your tests, the first and most important step is to ensure that you have clearly defined objectives for your Web site. You'll want to examine your marketing goals in order to determine the appropriate success factors that all of your organization's stakeholders can agree upon. Let's start with typical measurable Web site goals. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI
• Lead Scoring: A Leading Priority for Marketersby Lisa Cramer
  Today, leads flow to Marketing from ever-increasing online sources—email campaigns, the company Web site, Google AdWords and Google searches, webinars, online advertising, blogs, and virtual trade shows—as well as from traditional marketing activities. The sheer volume of leads, or "suspects," can be overwhelming. How does Marketing prioritize all these suspects? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Metrics & ROI: See all 242 marketing articles

Metrics & ROI case studies, deconstructing real life examples and illustrating lessons learned

• How a Diving Equipment Retailer Leveraged Targeted Web Site Promotions to Lift Revenue, ConversionsDivers Direct
• How New Media Helped Auction Direct USA Boost Sales 40%Auction Direct USA
• How HP Boosted Product Sales 84% by Letting the Blogosphere Run Its Online Marketing PromotionHewlett-Packard
• How a Telecommunications Company Used Video to Streamline Its Sales ProcessDigium
• How a Technology Company Leveraged March Madness Live Streaming to Increase Visibility for Its Own ProducteTelemetry
• How a Small Internet Publisher Doubled Its Email Database & Reduced Marketing Spend With Cost-per-LeadTripmela, Inc.
• How Sherwin-Williams Used Digital Collateral for a Newly Launched Product to Engage Retailers and ConsumersSherwin-Williams Company, Krylon division
• How a Video Podcast Series Garnered a Top Industry Award and 68,500 views in 12 MonthsTellabs
• How One Whitepaper Generated 500 Leads and Significant PR for a B2B ManufacturerJER Envirotech
• A Niche E-tailer Sizes Up Glamour... One Customer at a Time, Boosting Sales with a Personalized Web Site ExperienceSydney's Closet
• How a Bed & Breakfast Inn Boosted Its Bookings with One Video AdMorning Glory Inn
• How a Consumer Electronics Company Leveraged the Power of Community to Uncover Market Preferences and Build Excitement for a New Product LineEastman Kodak Company
• How a University Embraced Social Media and Scored Millions in YouTube ViewsCarnegie Mellon University
• How a Web-based Company Increased Leads 90%—and Sales 23%—via PPC-Visitor Profiling, Landing Page PersonalizationCompany: Continental Warranty
• How MyFax Upped Customer Engagement, Achieved a 79% NetPromoter ScoreMyFax
• How a Finance Director Left Her Day Job and Launched an 'Engaging Brand' Online via a Podcast and BlogThe Engaging Brand
• How a Small-Business Consultant Leveraged a High-Profile TV Commercial to Generate New Traffic and Win New BusinessLocalZing
• How an Online Software Biz Doubled Its Sales Leads, Increased Site Traffic 75%Makana Solutions
• How an Online Business Increased Conversions (Sales) on Landing Pages by Up to 12%AutoAnything.com
• How Major League Baseball Doubled Fan Research Without Increasing CostsMajor League Baseball

Metrics & ROI: See all 54 case studies

Metrics & ROI online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

• Creating a Customer-Centric, Measurable Marketing PlanAttendee rating:  - Oct 16, 2008
• Prove It: Tools and Techniques to Measure the Effectiveness of Social Media CampaignsAttendee rating:  - Jul 24, 2008
• Beyond Trade Show Metrics: Improving Your Event Marketing ROIAttendee rating:  - Jul 10, 2008
• Using e-Metrics to Optimize Your All-Around Marketing StrategyAttendee rating:  - Apr 3, 2008
• How to Make Marketing Indispensable to SalesAttendee rating:  - Feb 7, 2008
• Brand Metrics: Three Pathways to Measure ROIAttendee rating:  - Apr 5, 2007
• Testing, Testing -- The Last (and Best) Direct Marketing TacticAttendee rating:  - Mar 15, 2007
• Evaluating Marketing Mix TradeoffsAttendee rating:  - Oct 5, 2006
• How Marketers Win Friends and Keep Profitable Customers Through ROI AnalysisAttendee rating:  - Sep 21, 2006
• The 3 Big Secrets Behind Successful Marketing DashboardsAttendee rating:  - Sep 7, 2006
• Web Analytics All Over Again: What's Old, New, Tried and TrueAttendee rating:  - Oct 20, 2005
• Managing Customers As Long Term InvestmentsAttendee rating:  - Sep 29, 2005
• CFO vs. CMO Smackdown: How to Win the Budget BattlesAttendee rating:  - Aug 4, 2005
• Marketing Metrics: Linking Marketing to Financial ConsequencesAttendee rating:  - May 5, 2005
• Web Analytics: Best Practices in the Real WorldAttendee rating:  - Oct 22, 2004

Metrics & ROI: See all 15 seminars

Metrics & ROI mini articles distilling bite-sized advice (from our Get to the Point newsletters)

• A Tale of Two InnovationsSmall Business
  The next time your management team meets to determine the fate of a recently introduced product or service, consider a post by Scott Anthony at Harvard Business Online. He argues...
• Cool Open-Rate StatsEmail Marketing
  Even if your email campaigns meet goals and deliver great ROI, you probably wonder how you compare to industry standards. If so, you’re going to love the spreadsheet in a...
• When Less is MoreEmail Marketing
  You've crossed all your marketing t's and dotted all your best practices i's with a relevant, enticing offer sent only to subscribers who opted in to your campaigns. You're anxious...
• Analyze ThisEmail Marketing
  According to Dan Forootan, "Google Analytics has become one of the industry’s most powerful Internet marketing tools, helping advertisers, publishers and Web site owners improve their sales conversion, campaign targeting...
• Survey Says ...Small Business
  The problem with surveys—whether on the phone or the Internet—is that they're often too long and rambling. In many cases, you either bail out before it's over, or feel like...
• Are Your Web Customers Engaged?Small Business
  Your Web site is an ideal venue for holding your customers' attention. But how do you measure the success of your efforts? Inspired by Eric Petersen's presentation on the subject...

Metrics & ROI: See all 6 quick reads

Metrics & ROI marketing downloads for the busy professional

• Small Biz How-To Guide: Avoiding Key Pitfalls
  Let's face it, more small businesses fail than succeed. Make sure yours is one of the winners with this guide to getting your small business off the ground and solidly on the road to success.
• E-Newsletter How-To Guide
  The e-newsletter has become ubiquitous. Almost a dime a dozen. How do you make yours not only stand out in the inbox, but make a positive impact on your bottom line? This guide will show you how.
• Marketing Metrics How-To Guide
  Metrics is the guiding light of your marketing efforts. Without measurements, you're operating in the dark. Make sure you are tracking the right metrics, and get tips on interpreting the data with this comprehensive guide.
• B2B Direct Marketing How-To Guide
  Direct marketing is one of the fastest changing disciplines within marketing today. What worked 10 years ago, isn't working today. Heck, what worked last week sometimes doesn't even work today, so keep your skills sharp with his How-To guide, focusing on the B2B market.
• Marketing ROI and the Sales Funnel
  In this guide, you will learn how to structure, motivate and measure the marketing and sales functions to maximize profit. Topics include: 1) a high-level self-assessment to determine potential sources of profit leakage; 2) how to map out and improve strategies related to the buying cycle; 3) how to apply marketing ROI principles to create strategies to reduce and recycle leakage from the buying cycle; and 4) how to leverage insight on your key profit drivers and customer-level analysis to improve profitability.

See all marketing downloads