Reducing Uncertainty and Increasing the ROI of Communications and Promotions Decisions
There has likely never been a better time to get serious and be practical about reducing the uncertainty and increasing the return on investment of the business communications and promotional decisions you make for your business.
Since the world economies turned, I have been asked several excellent questions by CEOs, Marekting Directors, Investors, Product Managers and owners of small to medium sized businesses wanting to quickly navigate from survive to thrive.
Amongst the uncertain back-drop of bail outs, TARP programs, lay-offs, Twitter and hybrid-cars, are some very good examples of pragmatic management, exciting innovation and real opportunity. Below, I will answer one of the questions, and a bit on the pragmatic side-
What do you measure to determine communication effectiveness and value?
The universe of metrics for this can include:
-Market share / reach
-Unit volume
-Reach into the market
-Sales volume
-Site conversion
-Revenue
-Media expense to revenue
-Time-to-market
-Time-to-revenue
-Adoption rate / velocity
-Market awareness (of product, company, brand, application)
-Return on investment
There are many more metric options, some specific to the media and market. They have to be carefully selected against the objectives of the communication strategy and business.
The first step is benchmarking the current communications model with like metrics.
Then, make sure there is a very communication-specific understanding of the market, the demand side.
Knowing how prospects learn (read, listen, see. . .), their attention spans and which media are most effective in attracting and engaging them (their preferred media set) is extremely important.
Professional communicators know that developing / discovering exactly what the product or service ‘does for’ the prospect is critical in getting the metrics to lift in the proper direction. I call these the “Do-Fors”. They are more important and highly valued than what a product or service does. They are beyond features and benefits.
Even if you have the “Do-Fors”, the next step is to find out what the most highly valued sub-set of these is. This is what I call “the high willingness to pay set of Do-Fors.” Or, the “money set.”
The goal of developing these is to take out as much of the uncertainly and expense risk of communication decisions as possible. In-turn, there is increased effectiveness [moving those metrics in a positive direction!] and better return on investment.
The next step is to look at the results, and begin developing the communications platform. This is the body of text, or content, that that will be combined with specially selected media options, to do the communicating and move the measurable.
There are many media options and expert communicators understand these, their strengths and weaknesses. This understanding is combined with the characteristics of the market for maximum effectiveness. Another area of concern is media overloading and solving the problem of “cutting through the noise” of other messages, other media or events competing for the prospects attention.
The best selection of media options will attract and engage the prospect well and long enough so that they have a positive reaction to the “Do-Fors” that you have discovered and included within the communication. This should result in a change in behavior – the purchase. The revenue.
Now it is time to visit the metrics again and see how they differ from when they were benchmarked in the first place. What was different this time? What are the implications and recommendations the market and metrics are telling us? What are the next steps?
Are some or all of these steps included in how you reduce the uncertainty and increase the return-on-investment of your communications and promotions decisions? If yes, you know and can measure the benefits. If not now, when? -Jeof
Add comment May 16th, 2009