Marketing Convergence

What are the experts saying in the New Year?

A number of sources are reporting on the increased attention being paid to integrating offline and online assessment of marketing. The recent newsletter from Chief Marketer has several.

Key points:

"Actionable Analytics for Online Success" by the Dave Friedman of an interactive agency (Avenue A Razorfish) discusses understanding the impact of all marketing efforts (something often termed 'marketing mix modeling') on online activity, e.g. conversion.

Recommendations:
1. Analyze historical campaign data to identify best mix of brand and direct advertising.
2. Link media data to transaction (behavior) and work out the online-offline (vice versa) attribution question.
3. Understand the interaction of online and offline channels. Don't always attribute action to last event - like MediaPlex.
4. Web analytic platforms need to be analytic platforms in a more general sense.

In "Predictability 2.0: The Core of Marketing Performance Management" Lane Michel (a colleague of mine at Quaero) argues that the two most significant hurdles to ROI are 1) lacking the discipline to execute and measure returns, something the direct world is reasonably good at and 2) forgetting that customers are people who make choices. The second should be taped on every marketing plan.

In "Revealed: Which E-Mail Tests Work Best" Anne Holland of MarketingSherpa highlights some of their research on e-mail success.
1. "Testing in and of itself increases ROI." is the key finding.
2. "Only problem moving forward .... is how to integrate offline campaigns -- which ultimately must be included."
3. "The three best ROI tests had more to do with words (copy, offer, subject line) than with design or graphics.

My read:
a. Clients will continue ask for more hard data and proof that their programs are working.
b. Marketing services firms, including agencies, should consider how their organization and deliverables can best align with this need.
c. More cross-functional integration will generate more successful innovation.
d. It still isn't about technology.