Stand by the front office door each morning at 7:55AM and greet your staff. Thank each one for arriving early while looking at your watch. Point out to them that it is 7:55, or 7:56, that they are early, and that you are happy with their behavior. Do this for two weeks in a row. Then, watch what happens every day after.
People clearly notice what other people are paying attention to. And, when your attention is precisely focused and unwavering, other people join in.
So, when it comes to B2B Marcom, an arena where we are faced with hundreds of elements to monitor, notice, pay attention to, and report on, which elements do our staff focus on? That's easy ... the ones we "measure".
Therefore, begin with your goal. "Always begin at the end." From there, before you actually begin devising any Marcom plans, determine which metrics will provide you with the clearest, most meaningful, and most actionable feedback. Typically, we find that there are only one, two, or three top-level metrics needed to understand our progress - on a departmental level. There may be several second-level metrics, those that are helpful in enriching our understanding of the situation, but there are typically only a very small number of key metrics.
Once you are confident of your metrics, test your conclusion by vetting your metrics with your internal customers. In my case, some of my most critical internal customers are my sales team and my product management team. So, we frequently discuss (and refresh our understanding of) each project's goal, exactly who we are hoping to influence, exactly what we action we desire, etc. This vetting step is critical as it helps affirm Marcom's understanding of each project as well as helping us avoid wasting resources and/or damaging our internal brand.
After completing the initial steps, devise data acquisition methods that are simple. And, when it comes to reporting your results ... make it simple and regular (periodic). And remember to put your reports into a format that you, your team, and your internal customers understand and prefer. Ideally, this process (data acquisition, report formatting, and report generation) is automated.
In review:
- Begin with your goal
- Establish the key, top-level metrics
- Test your assumptions and conclusions with your internal customers
- Establish easy-to-implement data acquisition
- Develop an attractive (not necessarily sexy), easy-to-understand, preferred report format
- Generate your reports in a predictable, periodic manner
- Automate your process whenever possible
What gets measured gets managed.