Strategy

Marketing Return on Investment: Why Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

With the growth of social media marketing, an emphasis on quantitative metrics to measure marketing effectiveness has grown, too. Because online marketing gathers statistics so easily and so exhaustively, it has become common to define campaign success according to the number of Shares, Likes, Follows and such. Agencies cite these metrics as a meaningful indication that the marketing they created is working.

I disagree. The only true metric of marketing success is your bottom line. Did the person who Liked, Followed and Shared actually buy anything? Did they even click on the link to your site? Can you make a clear connection between a lot of Likes and a jump in sales?

Social media is great for public relations and raising awareness, but it has failed as a useful means for marketing. A study conducted by Forrester Research reported that “among a brand’s fans, only .07% — that’s 7 in ten thousand — ever engage with the brand’s Facebook posts. On Twitter the number is even lower — 3 in ten thousand.” The visitors to these pages aren’t even clicking through, much less buying.

So using this kind of math to prove the success of a marketing effort is misleading at best, and dangerously misguided at worst. The 2010 Pepsi Refresh campaign is a good example. (Read about it here.)

I believe this is because the job of marketing is to inspire purchasing choices in its audiences, and that requires more than a compilation of statistics – it requires an understanding of human behavior. Even children know that marketing depends on timing, presentation and the ability to be persuasive in order to be successful. (“Mom, can I stay up till ten tonight? Pleeeeeeeze?”) When you have to rely on human choices to meet your goals, you are entering the realm of emotion. Tying success solely to logic and numbers will never tell the whole story.

This is evident when reading marketing how-to books. They’ll tell you that in order to close a sale, you have to connect with or “touch” the prospect anywhere from five to 27 times through various media. This is because each prospect will need a different number of encounters with your product or service to feel comfortable making a purchase.

But since everyone is different, how can you know exactly at which of the 5-27 points of contact any given prospect decided to pull the trigger? Unless you are targeting individuals one by one, you simply can’t. You also will not know which of the several marketing media you used has worked in any specific instance. You can track some of your sales through tools such as coupons, discounts and time limits, but these aren’t appropriate for all businesses, especially services. You could try surveys, but often people don’t remember the exact moment they decided to buy or what the trigger was.

So we are back to the pre-Facebook mode of serial testing. How it works: you develop a clear understanding of your target market, including their general preferences for getting information, and then you choose several means of communicating your offer to this group based on that understanding. Since different people look at different media at different times in different emotional modes, you will choose a range of marketing media, not one, and deploy them in a systematic way over time, not once, so you can plot general sales results against them.

As you continue your marketing program, you will hone your sense of what works best through looking at your sales, not a bunch of numbers that show how well your Facebook page is doing. That is more of a measure of success for Mr. Zuckerberg than for you. Taking the time to create and execute a marketing program based on thoughtful consideration of your market instead of raw numbers has a much greater chance of success.

What Graphic Designers REALLY Do (and it’s not art)

Clients new to buying graphic design are often confused about what they should expect from the work they’re buying. Sometimes all they have is a vague notion that they’re going to get little pictures about what they sell, and that these pictures should be attractive so people will look at them. They tend to associate this process with art, and may think that design and art are the same thing.

This is understandable since both art and design are visual. But their functions are completely different.

When asked some years ago what the difference was, Milton Glaser (an icon of contemporary design) said something like this: the function of art is to intensify one’s perception of reality and create new languages of meaning. But the function of design is to communicate, and for that we must use known symbols.

Coming from a fine art academic background, I had been trying to figure out how art and design are related. I now had my answer. It has helped me understand the difference between artistic goals and design goals, and that I will be both a better artist and a better designer by staying clear about which is which and not confusing them.

This understanding has also kept me from becoming one of those dreaded stereotypes of the commercial art world: prima donna designers who disregard their clients’ ideas, insist they know best, and work in the vacuum of their own ego. To them I say: listening to your client is not a sell-out. It’s the only way you can create effective work. Work that is not effective is a failure, no matter how cool it is.

Here’s my take: it is the job of graphic design to combine words and pictures to create an image that will inspire a particular behavior. Specifically, I am supposed to create communications that will motivate people to behave in ways that benefits my clients. Usually that means “Buy my stuff.” It can also mean “Buy into my social cause” or “Vote for me.” What designers REALLY do is nothing more nor less than behavior modification. Designers are all closet Skinnerian psychologists.

I have found that this viewpoint helps clients understand what they are really buying, and gives them a benchmark for evaluating its usefulness. This in turn helps me do better work because they are able to give me better direction.

So the difference is: Design puts aesthetic expression at the service of the client, not the creator. And when good communication exists between clients and designers, the communication between clients and their markets will be much more successful.

Features & Benefits: What Are You REALLY Offering Your Customers?

As the economy continues on its tortuous path to recovery, its progress will be paralleled by an increase in competition. Product/service differentiation is key to holding your own in the marketplace, so it’s time to get crystal clear on what your business really offers.

A useful way to do that is the Features/Benefits Filter. Buying decisions are based far more often on benefits, which are perceived emotionally, than features, which are perceived rationally. Example: I am buying some shoes. Features: made of brown suede, 3” heels, non-slip soles and they lace up. Benefits: really stylish oxfords that make me feel competent AND attractive. The features (and price) are important, but what’s really selling me are the benefits. Without them, the features don’t move me and I probably won’t buy.

This exercise applies to services as well. Example: I need a will, and therefore a lawyer. Features: someone current on estate law, with a convenient location and a reasonable hourly fee. Benefits: peace of mind knowing that my affairs will be handled per my wishes, and I will not be leaving a big mess for my family. The benefits of doing my will are far more engaging than the mechanics of the process, so I will actually do it.

To sum up: Features describe the product. Benefits describe what’s in it for the customer. For your marketing to be customer-centric, and therefore effective, benefits need the emphasis. Try applying the filter to your own offering from your customers’ viewpoint – looking at it through their eyes will tell you a lot about how to adjust your marketing and better position your business.

A laundry list of product or service features is a big ho-hum; clarity about the benefits you offer will strike an immediate note. Lead with those and you will reap major benefits for your business.