New Metrics for a New CMO

April 9, 2009 4:02 PM

by Michael Pierre, VP/Connection Planning, The Halo Group

Ask three CMOs to define their roles and you’ll get three different answers. But one thing they will all agree on is that they are ultimately responsible for and will be evaluated on the growth of their business. The role of CMOs is changing; therefore, the metrics that are used to evaluate the programs they put in place, and that ultimately drive their business, have to change as well. With the consumption habits of today’s consumer in constant flux, CMOs need to build programs that reach consumers across multiple channels. In order to measure these programs effectively, an entire new set of metrics has to be developed that takes into account all the different connection points where consumers go to consume their media, TV, radio, print, online, mobile, and now even social media. These new metrics then need to be put in place, not only to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the overall marketing campaign, but also to see how each program impacts the others. Did the offline campaign drive people to the site? Did the online campaign drive people to call or go directly into a store? So, taking the time to put these key metrics in place will provide value and will provide the structure needed to properly evaluate what does and does not work.

There are three key metrics that can be chopped up and dissected to meet the needs of any business and that should be at the top of the list: maximize ROI, identify and reduce waste, and compare performance to internal and external benchmarks (if internal or external benchmarks haven’t been set up, that’s an entire topic in itself). Once these metrics are established, a system should be established to enable the results to be communicated to the appropriate people. Hidden within these three key metrics is an ever-growing number of new metrics, such as:

Company Buzz — The level of buzz a company, brand or product is generating over time.
Relevance — How relevant is the company, brand or product to its consumers’ needs?
Sentiment — What’s the positive, negative or neutral opinion about the company, brand or product?
View Throughs — A user sees the company’s online creative and goes to the site, but never clicks on the ad.
Interaction Rate — The amount of time a user spends interacting with a piece of a company’s creative.
Video Plays/Streams — The amount of time an online video was played.

Fortunately, technology is playing a big role in helping to pull all of these metrics together. With the continued evolution of ad-serving companies like Mediaplex and Dart, old-school monitoring companies like Nielsen and Arbitron increasing their digital capabilities, and new technology companies popping up every day, developing new metrics and tying all of this data together is not only a necessity, but is also essential for the new CMOs in driving their business and their bottom line.

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