Posts Tagged ‘measurement’

The Value — and Limitations — of Leading Indicators

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Working in large organizations I became very familiar with “leading” and “lagging” indicators and, admittedly, sometimes  I found what I thought was the “complexity” of the concepts to be a bit overwhelming. But, I’m very data-driven and very committed to measuring the impacts of my efforts whether working in an organization, for a client or for myself. The premise is really quite basic: if you are looking for (more…)

How to Meet Senior Managers’ Expectations for Corporate Communications

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

What are senior managers across the globe and across multiple industries concerned about these days? Reputation. So says a recent study conducted by Spencer Stuart and Weber Shandwick. Not surprising given the hit that many companies have taken over recent years in terms of their reputation, credibility and trust among consumers. So what are senior leaders’ expectations of the communications function according to the study? (more…)

Are MARCOM Professionals Out of Touch? CEOs Think So, and I Tend to Agree.

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

Newsflash: according to a recent survey from Fournaise Marketing Group, 70% of the CEOs surveyed said that marketers and communicators are disconnected from business results and living “too much in their creative and social media bubble.”

Now, I appreciate the numbers being tied to this reported sentiment, and I do love surveys, but as a marketing communications (MARCOM) professional for a number of years I have to say that this is not really shocking information. Those of us in MARCOM know this; we’ve known it for a long time. Ironically, though, too few of us (more…)

Facebook Ads – Does GM Know Something Others Don’t?

Monday, May 21st, 2012

As Facebook prepared to launch a much-anticipated public offering, GM announced that it was discontinuing its use of Facebook ads. If you haven’t heard about this already, you haven’t been paying attention! Now, I’m guessing GM is (more…)

New Year’s Resolutions for Small Businesses

Friday, December 30th, 2011

As the New Year approaches it’s time to begin thinking about New Year’s resolutions. I’m pretty goal oriented and actually love this time of year–it’s always fun to look forward to new possibilities and make new plans for growth and achievement. I also believe that thinking about and committing our goals to some formal form (whether hard copy or online) serves to formally mark them in our minds and increases the odds that we will actually move forward to achieve them.

Here are my “top 3 marketing resolution recommendations” for 2012: (more…)

What Measures Can Marketing Communications Impact?

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

As I work with companies on their marketing communication efforts most are understandably concerned about measuring the effectiveness of their marketing efforts whether those efforts involve multi-media campaigns or social media. And, personally, I’m a strong proponent of measurement in any business endeavor – you must be able to show a return on your efforts to prove your worth whether you’re an employee or a consultant/contractor.

But, if you’re responsible for marketing communications, you also need to make sure that you’re measuring those things that your efforts can realistically impact.  (more…)

“If a tweet enters the Twittersphere and nobody’s there, does it make a sound?”

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

Recently released research from Pew should send a wake-up call to all marketers who have been–or may find themselves becoming–overly enamored of the “power” of social media.

Don’t get me wrong. I think social media has its place among any marketer’s arsenal of *potential* communication tools. But, I also think that too many marketers are far too eager to jump on the social media bandwagon without appropriate consideration to whether or not a significant percentage of their audience is out there. “If a tweet enters the Twittersphere and nobody’s there, does it make a sound?” Sadly, no. (more…)

Measuring Social Media (and some webinar best practices!)

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

I sign up for webinars frequently (I’m an easy mark for those “free webinar” offers – they’re making a bundle on me!) Often I don’t actually *attend* the webinar I signed up for (which webinar providers will tell you is common among free registrants…), but I do often save and view later so I can “speed through” at my leisure *or* listen while I’m doing something else.

Today, though, I actually signed on to listen to a webinar and paid attention to *most* of it and found much of the info very, very helpful. One image in particular that (more…)

Measuring Marketing Effectiveness – Yes You Can!

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

My contribution on “Measuring Marketing Communication” is included as a chapter in IABC’s (International Association of Business Communicators) recently released book The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication. It’s a great book (even if I do say so myself!), with contributions from a wide range of communication experts on topics including how to manage communications, internal communication, public relations and marketing communications.

I particularly enjoyed (more…)