I want to talk about collaboration – collaboration within our work place to facilitate fast and effective marketing strategies. Why do I want to bring this up? Because ‘marketing effectiveness’ has been repeatedly held up as an all-important goal in 2010 and I wonder just how many of us have made headway with it.

It’s quite a broad term, ‘marketing effectiveness’, but I believe one of the main contexts it’s used in is, when we’re discussing data analysis and how we can use this information to enhance our efforts. What has this got to do with collaboration? Well, what many struggle with is getting all the relevant people within a business on the same page in terms of why they’re gathering website data, the type of information they’re gathering, when they’re collecting it, who has access to it and how it’s to be used. Incongruent ideas about data collection and its purpose typically lead to inaction and therefore ‘marketing ineffectiveness’, which is why I want to talk about collaboration…

Data is meaningless unless you can create thoughtful action, based on its analysis. As marketers, we need this data but more importantly we need to analyse it and develop new ideas and strategies from it. We can only do this however, if the person who collects and analyses the data shares this information in real-time with the marketing department. Similarly, the marketing department needs to share the insights and conclusions drawn with the data collection team so they can ensure the right data is being monitored, and the right kind of analysis conducted. Additionally, it’s important that senior management and/or business owners understand (at a high level) how this data feeds into changing marketing strategies and tactics, and importantly, how it supports the case for budget and resource increases. You see, data collation is imperative but collaboration and communication about this data is critical if it’s to provide any value to your organisation.

I’d like to quickly offer another example of how collaboration can help us achieve the holy grail that is ‘marketing effectiveness’. On average, a customer might experience 5.5 touches from your business before they convert. This might involve an email campaign, a direct mail leaflet, a billboard, a newspaper article, a link from a blog or an organic search. Typically, there might be more than one department or person involved in the distribution of these marketing materials. Even more typical is a situation whereby these people and departments aren’t talking to each other and sharing information about their campaigns on a regular basis. Therefore, when it comes to tracking leads and attributing value to the different tactics, it can get a little competitive.

Depending on the kind of model you use, your business might attribute value to the first touch that ultimately leads to a sale. Or, perhaps you attribute it to the last touch before a customer converted. Either way, your approach is wrong because it doesn’t accurately represent how the sale came about. There are likely to have been multiple touches before the deal was sewn up, therefore your data collection and analysis procedures need to reflect this collaboration of marketing tools and tactics. It’s the only way the business will truly understand how to achieve marketing effectiveness across the entire organisation.

This is my personal blog. The views expressed here are my own and do not represent those of my employer, Coremetrics.