Use Data to Drive Your Communications

By Merry Elrick, CBC

Let's agree from the beginning that ROI is really the only significant metric that will make management sit up and take notice.

Certainly this should not be the case (ROI shouldn't be the only metric relating to communications that management seems to care about). Brand awareness is critical in building brand equity, and that impacts shareholder value. Increases in brand awareness must be measured over time. But that's for the long-term. And nothing is quite so wonderfully concrete as a sale that brings in cash.

That's why most marketers want to show ROI-that the sale is tied directly to marketing efforts. Now we all know there are many variables that influence sales, including brand awareness. But when a lead comes in that eventually ends up as a sale, that's tangible evidence that marketing communications is doing something right. In order to demonstrate this, we must tie our efforts to sales, or "close the loop."

In my experience, many B2B marketers find this difficult. Most have communications programs that look like this:

We create communications that generate leads, the leads go to the salespeople, and the communications department is left hanging to wonder how many of those leads are converted to sales.

Closing the loop is not so easy. First, it requires cooperation from sales. We must give them reasons to join communications in a partnership effort. Here are some ideas:

• capture the sales lead information and make it easy for salespeople to give you feedback,
• telemarket to ensure the leads you pass along are top quality,
• work with sales to attach a value to the leads-if a prospect is ready to buy within the month, that's a hot one, and
• continually hone your program to get more and better leads.

Second, we must design our communications to generate leads. It is all well and good to build awareness, which can and should be measured, but if we're looking for ROI, we must make the link between the leads we generate and actual sales. So create communications that provoke responses. Easier said than done, I know, but doable, even if you have to offer something like a white paper or a coupon.

Early in the concept development process, build response mechanisms into the communication. Everything we do must have at least one way for the prospect to respond, and multiple ways are better. Code those response mechanisms by using a special URL or phone number unique to the communication so you'll know where the lead comes from. Then make sure you have a system in place to capture that information, pass it along and keep it organized so you can follow up.

If you do, you'll have communications programs that look like this:

Of course, keeping the information organized requires a database, and that requires help from the IT department. Or, you can use DataDriven MarCom, a proprietary database designed specifically for marketers. A database is the only practical way to track leads that result in sales, a process that can sometimes take months or even years. So you must allow enough time to gather data, but when you do, you'll have impressive evidence that your efforts brought in good, solid cash.