CEOs and business owners often ask me what’s the best way for them to measure my contribution to their business. The business of business has never been more complex, yet we are actually in an era where marketing is one of the few levers left that management can actually control to engage customers. And that’s how a marketer is best judged – by the improvement of the brand’s engagement with customers.

Marketing is all about the customer. The customer

Don’t just take my word for it.

A survey of CMOs across 92 countries reveals consensus – the most valuable measures of marketing’s contribution are in the areas of engagement and “brand health”. Health being a bit of a catchall word for the grab bag of KPIs that show how much customers recognise you, like you, value and understand what you stand for. They also ranked the capabilities that will be more important to marketers over the next 5 years.

KPIs for measuring marketing effectiveness

Source: The Marketing 2020 Report, Effective Brands survey of 10,000 professionals across 92 countrie

The capabilities most important for marketers in 5 years

How to manage the 9 biggest marketing challenges

Here is how we manage the biggest marketing challenges today:

1. What do you stand for?
   Define your differentiated positioning in the market that not only you have a passion for, enough prospects will pay for.
2. Know your customer
   Base your story on what customers genuinely care about that you can deliver. The features with benefits that ideally are unmet by competitors, or unknown to prospects. Think like a challenger brand.
3. Define your target audiences
   Don’t attempt to sell something to everyone. It’s the era of niches within subgroups. Align your messages to what each customer target cares about.
4. Customer service
   Never over promise, always over deliver on expectations.See some of the proven ways to foster customer loyalty here. 
5. Pricing strategy
   Remember pricing is a two way lever, framing value to maximise profit is the game, not cost plus pricing, that was the era of mass market production line manufacturing. Be nimble and exploit unique profit opportunities from short term market mispricing. Then find another.
6. Packaging and design
   Sell the sizzle. Creativity and a consistent brand image increases cut through, recall and engagement and helps you command a price premium. Bad ads are bad for business. Stand out and apart. Safe isn’t just boring, it’s high risk.
7. Be prepared for a crisis
   The Internet now makes everything public and places the power in the customer’s hands. Have a plan. Tell the truth, you’ll be outed if you don’t. Make sure you know your legal position with social media.
8. Innovate for growth
   Or die. Big business struggles to change, this is the great advantage for those who aren’t market leaders. Become a challenger brand by zigging while the category zags. See the bottom line benefits of innovation as determined by AIM, they are significant.
9. Data
   We are now in a digitised world. The companies that have the most data on people have the power to own their custom. Whether you are a manufacturer, distributer, service business or retailer, the business that makes the most of data will control the money.