The Pressure to Present Results

ROI, KPI, quarterly reports, annual plans. Tired of it all? I hear you. Quantifying results for marketing initiatives is a tall order, because traditionally pinpointing marketing results is much more challenging than showing off results elsewhere in the company, like sales or IT departments.

When Leapfrog Marketing Institute’s CMO Benchmark Survey showed that 93% of CMOs were under pressure to deliver measurable return on investment, I wasn’t necessarily surprised. I was sympathetic though.

The pressure of proving ROI is one thing, but what complicates matters is the fact that so few companies even have the ability or data to deliver those results. If you’re expected to show return on investment but you’re faced with internal silos, a lack of technological solutions and impatient executives, you’re left with little to build on.

No matter the industry, preference management not only paves the way for a modern omnichannel approach, but it also forces silos to break down and provides quantifiable data. Preference management, the active collection, maintenance and distribution of unique consumer characteristics, such as product interest, communication channel preference and frequency of communication is an initiative that can be rolled out slowly, allowing early stages to prove the ROI before expanding to additional touchpoints.

And at every stage, data points can prove successes. Because preference management is built from consumer opt-ins, the initial data is already positive – indicating which customers are ready to start a conversation with your brand. Moreover, additional data will continue to enhance the relationship by establishing preferences stated by the consumer himself.

So sure, proving marketing ROI is difficult when you have few tools, but so is breaking down silos and impressing both executives and customers. So don’t hide from showing ROI and KPIs and following through on reports, with preference management, a steady path will appear before you.

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