In B2B marketing, collecting numbers is easy. Picking the right measurements and consistently using them to improve your marketing is the real challenge. Here are just a few of the questions you will need to address:
- Should you be focused on revenue that is directly attributed to your marketing activities?
- Is the data you have reliable?
- How do you measure and manage newer segments of marketing, including social media?
- How do you judge the impact your content is having?
For a recent #B2Bchat discussion on Twitter, we looked at some of these issues. The range of perspectives on each of these points highlights just how challenging these topics still are. Below are a few of the highlights from each of the issues addressed during the chat.
Revenue Measurement
Should B2B marketers focus on directly attributed revenue or do they need to look beyond this and include potentially softer or unmeasured benefits of marketing?
B2B Marketing Measurement Question 1: #B2Bchat 7/19/2012
Should B2B marketing always be managed based on measured sales and revenue?
Storified by Eric Wittlake · Sun, Jul 22 2012 22:34:39
Data and Other B2B Marketing Challenges
Is data the biggest challenge in measuring B2B marketing? Or is it selecting the right metrics or acting on outcomes? Data quality and metric selection are some of the top responses, but the discussion highlighted a number of other challenges as well.
B2B Marketing Measurement Question 2: #B2Bchat 7/19/2012
Is the biggest challenge in measuring B2B marketing getting consistent quality data?
Storified by Eric Wittlake · Sun, Jul 22 2012 22:37:25
Measuring Social Media
The value of B2B in social media is often debated. Can you measure the full impact of social media? If so, you can turn to measurement to address its value. If not, you cannot reliably point to measurement to show it is not valuable.
B2B Marketing Measurement Question 3: #B2Bchat 7/19/2012
Can you measure the full value of social media in B2B marketing?
Storified by Eric Wittlake · Sun, Jul 22 2012 22:41:36
Judging Content Effectiveness
How do you measure your content? Is it possible to have a standard approach since it serves in so many different roles across your marketing programs?
B2B Marketing Measurement Question 3: #B2Bchat 7/19/2012
Is the best metric for measuring content the number of views/downloads?
Storified by Eric Wittlake · Sun, Jul 22 2012 22:44:16
Your Turn
Do you have your own answers to add to any of the discussion points? Share them in the comments below or with me on Twitter (@wittlake).
Interested in #B2Bchat? Join the discussion on Twitter every Thursday at 8:00 PM New York time using the #b2Bchat hashtag and follow @b2b_chat for an announcement of each week’s topic.
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