Defining effectiveness and meaningful metrics: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Marketers put campaign success at heart of effectiveness agenda

Exclusive data from Marketing Week’s Language of Effectiveness Survey reveals marketers regard campaign success as their key frame of reference for defining marketing effectiveness.

Over half (51.9%) of the 1,610 brand-side marketers surveyed interpret ‘marketing effectiveness’ as the success of marketing communication campaigns according to objectives.

This is followed by the return on marketing investment earned (40.8%) and the delivery of business objectives (38%).

Some way behind, 27% of the brand-side marketers surveyed interpret the success a campaign has had in strengthening brand equity as their main definition of marketing effectiveness.

Bringing up the rear, just under a quarter of marketers (24.1%) interpret effectiveness as the success of a company’s go-to market strategy.

The statistics suggest a bias towards marketers defining effectiveness in terms of campaign performance in line with current objectives, with longer-term concerns such as brand equity slipping lower down the agenda.

Source: Marketing Week’s Language of Effectiveness Survey 2022

Marketing effectiveness is rising in prominence within business

However marketers choose to define effectiveness, the survey suggests over the three years since the onset of the pandemic the importance of measurement has grown within organisations.

Almost two thirds (61.2%) of marketers say marketing effectiveness measurement has become more prominent in making marketing/business decisions. This figure is compared to just 10.8% who feel marketing effectiveness has become less prominent in driving marketing/business decisions than it was in 2019.

Some 22.2% of respondents report the importance of measuring marketing effectiveness is the same as it was three years ago.

Given the current climate of the cost pressures, record inflation and impending recession, the fact marketing effectiveness has grown in importance within most businesses over the Covid period suggests nailing the metrics will be crucial for brands looking to survive this latest crisis.

Source: Marketing Week’s Language of Effectiveness Survey 2022

Creative effectiveness is being measured

Measuring the effectiveness of creativity appears to be a priority within most businesses surveyed by Marketing Week.

When asked if there is analysis in place within their company for measuring creative effectiveness, well over half (58.5%) of marketers questioned said yes.

However, a third of respondents (33.1%) say they do not have the capability in place, while a further 8.5% don’t know whether this resource exists in their firm.

The last time Marketing Week took the temperature of the industry on this subject was back in 2019, when we explored the effectiveness of creativity. Some 61.8% of the 400 brand marketers surveyed three years ago claimed to measure the effectiveness of their creative, compared to 76.5% who measure the effectiveness of media.

However, more than one in 10 (11.7%) of the 2019 sample said they did not measure either.

Source: Marketing Week’s Language of Effectiveness Survey 2022

Marketers are on the lookout for enhanced analytics to measure creativity

Having the analytics at their disposal to measure effectiveness can often represent a significant hurdle for marketers to scale.

When asked if they are happy with the analytics available to them when it comes to specifically examining the effectiveness of creative, some 12.5% of the 1,610 brand marketers surveyed strongly disagreed with the statement.

A further 18.5% slightly disagreed, creating a combined total unhappy with the analytics at their disposal of almost a third (31%).

The survey shows a desire within the marketing community for enhanced analytics to enable the robust measurement of creativity, especially at a time when budgets are being squeezed as the cost of living crisis rumbles on.

Source: Marketing Week’s Language of Effectiveness Survey 2022

Marketers want to see effectiveness metrics better integrated into business decisions

Given marketers are striving to dig into the metrics that matter to their businesses, there is a sense of disappointment over the extent to which this insight is being fed into decision making.

When asked by Marketing Week if they would like to see the further integration of marketing effectiveness metrics into their company’s business/marketing decisions, well over a third (38.1%) of marketers strongly agreed with the statement.

A further 38.1% of respondents slightly agree with the statement, combining to reveal the majority of marketers (76.2%) want to see effectiveness metrics better integrated into their company’s business decisions.

It is concerning that so many of the sample fail to see their effectiveness insight being reflected in the overall decision making of their brand.

Source: Marketing Week’s Language of Effectiveness Survey 2022

Marketing Week is kicking of a major series of features, analysis and opinion on effectiveness, drawing on the insight from our exclusive Language of Effectiveness Survey. To read our marketing effectiveness content so far click here.