To Track the Effectiveness of a Marketing Plan, You Need Modern Day Measurement Times have changed, and taking a look in annually is no longer a sound strategy.
By Jim Joseph
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Back when I first started in marketing over 20 years ago, we didn't think that hard about measurement, to be perfectly honest.
Sure, we tracked sales and market share, and of course we tracked our marketing spending, but that was about it. We would set sales and market share goals, checking in throughout the year only to worry that at the end of the year we wouldn't hit our goals. So much stress!
Today, our marketing plans call for something far more complex. It's way too late if all you do is mark annual sales and market share at the end of the year. You need to be measuring all year long, and then course correcting along the way so that you can make sure you make you hit your annual goals.
This all starts with your marketing plan. You've outlined your strategies and identified your tactics, so now you must create your measurement protocol.
Related: 10 Data Tools Every Marketer Needs to Be Using
It starts with your goals, of course, which was the first installment of this series on marketing plans. But then you need to identify the elements that will make up those goals, the interim steps that will tell you if you are on track.
The interim goals could be anything that will track your progress, be it social media followers, numbers of shares or coupon redemption. Your interim goals should prove whether you will make your annual goals, allowing you to do what's necessary along the year to change the trajectory.
This is modern day marketing measurement -- not allowing the entire year to go by before you know if you'll succeed and doing everything in your power to stack the deck towards making your goals by using data to track your progress. Then, of course, also altering your marketing plan in response. I would suggest a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly dashboard to easily capture your results in a format that allows for easy decision-making.
You'll know, at a glance, how your business is performing.
This is modern day measurement.
