Five Ways to Make Marketing Financially Accountable

By Kathy-Ann Fletcher

A crisis brings to light the importance with which you are viewed: whether or not your circle sees you as expendable. For example, I realise that in a downturn and when there is a need to restructure the finances of a company, the marketing department suffers the most crucial cutbacks. The reason for this is the marketing dollars have previously been spent in a manner that was perceived to generate insufficient returns. 

What can we as marketers and entrepreneurs do to reverse this trend? We can make marketing more accountable. We need to show that marketing plays as critical a role in generating sales and revenue as finance or operations and human resources. There is the greater call generally for this accountability considering the size of some marketing budgets. It is important that we as marketers lead this accountability to be able to show that we are delivering on our promises and are contributing to the achievement of company objectives. We need to get to the stage where we can show the accountability of our strategies and activities.

1.       Measure – This is the first step to accountability. Set up metrics by which you will use to measure the results of your marketing efforts. Use the results of these measurements to use the best methods to achieve even greater returns.

2.       Link metrics to objectives – Use the metrics that allow you to best measure what you need to measure. This improves the connection with the market and shows you how your tools are performing based on your objectives. Additionally, it would reveal where your tools or your objectives may need to change or be adjusted.

3.       Don’t rely on one metric – Measuring one performance indicator will not give a true picture of your marketing strategy activities. Therefore, it is advised that you use both financial and non-financial metrics to show the complete reality of marketing’s effect on the bottom line.

4.       Create a results database – Use this to capture your marketing performance metrics as a way to show accountability. There is not the need for a sophisticated database just something that can match activities and tactics to results.

5.       Match marketing cost to performance – Keep a track of your marketing costs by marketing objective, program, channel, geography, segment and medium to show how your results justify the marketing investment.

It is essential, especially in light of the current scrutiny, to make sure that we are able to show that our role in the business is not to waste money but as with the other sections of the business to achieve company objectives, increase sales and generate revenue.