10
Ways to Rate Your Firm's Marketing Assessment System
by
Tim Ambler
Adapted
from"Marketing
and the Bottom Line, Second Edition", FT-Prentice Hall.
In
the research I've done over the years, I find that most companies
do not have a clear picture of their own marketing performance
which may be why they cannot assess it.
They
prefer to fumble around in the dark.
It's
easy to see why: fumbling has a lot going for it. More adventure,
more creativity, more surprises and more fantasies are all possible.
But
you may not like what you see when the lights do go on.
Clarity
of goals and metrics is what separates the professional firm from
the amateur. Professional marketers quantify results against intentions
to keep raising the bar. Professional athletes do the same.
So
how do you evaluate your firms metrics system? How do you know
if your marketing assessment system is good enough?
Here
are ten questions to ask yourself. Check the most appropriate
answer for your company, then score and rate your company to find
out where you stand.
The
10 Questions
1.
Does the senior executive team regularly and formally assess
marketing performance?
(a) Yearly
(b) Six-monthly
(c) Quarterly
(d) More often
(e) Rarely
(f) Never
2.
What does the senior executive team understand by 'customer
value'?
(a) Don't know. We are not clear about this
(b) Value of the customer to the business (as in 'customer lifetime
value')
(c) Value of what the company provides for the customers' point
of view
(d) Sometimes one, sometimes the other
3.
How much time does the senior executive team give to marketing
issues?
.............%
4.
Does the business/marketing plan show the non-financial corporate
goals and link them to market goals?
(a)
No/no plan
(b) Corporate no, market yes
(c) Yes to both
5.
Does the plan show the comparison of your marketing performance
with competitors or the market as a whole?
(a) No/no plan
(b) Yes, clearly
(c) In between
6.
What is your main marketing asset called?
(a) Brand equity
(b) Reputation
(c) Other term
(d) We have no term
7.
Does the senior executive team's performance review involve
a quantified view of the main marketing asset and how it has
changed?
(a) Yes to both
(b) Yes but only financially (brand valuation)
(c) Not really
8. Has the senior executive team quantified what 'success'
would look like five or ten years form now?
(a) No
(b) Yes
(c) Don't know
9.
Does your strategy have quantified milestones to indicate
progress towards that sucess?
(a) No
(b) Yes
(c) What strategy?
10.
Are the marketing performance indicators seen by the senior
executive team aligned with these milestones?
(a) No
(b) Yes, external (customers and competitors)
(c) Yes, internal, (employees and innovativeness)
(d) Yes, both
Scoring
Score
yourself according to the scale below.
- If
your total is greater than 90 percent, perhaps you'd care
to write an article or two for this site.
- If
your total is 70-90 percent, congratulate yourself and
keep at it.
- More
than 50 percent is good.
- Less
than 30 percent means what you think it means.
1.
Does the senior executive team regularly and formally assess
marketing performance?
(a) Yearly - 10
(b) Six-monthly - 10
(c) Quarterly - 5
(d) More often - 0
(e) Rarely - 0
(f) Never - 0
2.
What does the senior executive team understand by 'customer
value'?
(a) Don't know. We are not clear about this - 0
(b) Value of the customer to the business (as in 'customer lifetime
value') - 5
(c) Value of what the company provides for the customers' point
of view - 10
(d) Sometimes one, sometimes the other - 10
3.
How much time does the senior executive team give to marketing
issues?
.............% >30% = 10; 20-30% = 6; 10-20% = 4; <
10% = 0
4.
Does the business/marketing plan show the non-financial corporate
goals and link them to market goals?
(a)
No/no plan - 0
(b) Corporate no, market yes - 5
(c) Yes to both - 10
5.
Does the plan show the comparison of your marketing performance
with competitors or the market as a whole?
(a) No/no plan - 0
(b) Yes, clearly - 10
(c) In between - 5
6.
What is your main marketing asset called?
(a) Brand equity - 10
(b) Reputation - 10
(c) Other term - 5
(d) We have no term - 0
7.
Does the senior executive team's performance review involve
a quantified view of the main marketing asset and how it has
changed?
(a) Yes to both - 10
(b) Yes but only financially (brand valuation) - 5
(c) Not really - 0
8. Has the senior executive team quantified what 'success'
would look like five or ten years form now?
(a) No - 0
(b) Yes - 10
(c) Don't know - 0
9.
Does your strategy have quantified milestones to indicate
progress towards that sucess?
(a) No - 0
(b) Yes - 10
(c) What strategy? - 0
10.
Are the marketing performance indicators seen by the senior
executive team aligned with these milestones?
(a) No - 0
(b) Yes, external (customers and competitors) - 7
(c) Yes, internal, (employees and innovativeness) - 5
(d) Yes, both - 10
As
author, educator and speaker, Tim Ambler shares the insights
of over 30 years frontline experience in the business world and
a successful academic career through his research at London
Business School where he is a Senior Fellow. His areas of
expertise include:
· brand equity
· measuring marketing performance (marketing metrics)
· how advertising works
· measuring the effectiveness of advertising
· international marketing
· doing business in Greater China
Ambler
also serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Marketing.
Prior
to his academic career, Ambler spent many years at IDV (International
Distillers and Vintners) in the UK and held various senior marketing
posts including Marketing Director, where he was responsible for
significant brands such as Smirnoff Vodka and Bailey's Irish Cream.
More recently he held overall international marketing responsibility
for IDV and worked extensively in the USA, Canada, Africa and
emerging markets.
Publications
include: Marketing and the Bottom Line: Health Drives Wealth (FT/Prentice
Hall, 2nd ed., 2003); Doing Business in China (with Morgen Witzel,
Routledge, 2nd ed., 2003); The SILK Road to International Marketing
(with Chris Styles, FT/Prentice Hall 2000); Marketing from Advertising
to Zen (Financial Times Guide, FT/Pitman, 1996); and articles
on advertising effectiveness.
|