IMC measurement doesn’t seem like a very sexy topic but it’s really important for a lot of reasons. At a micro level, testing tells you when linked tactics are working or not working. At a macro level, measurable objectives give you a concrete way to say whether your campaign succeeded or fell short.
Measuring within integrated marketing is a little different. You want to take quantitative IMC measurements throughout the entire campaign so you can tinker and adjust as you go. (This is my favorite part.) Objectives need to be created that measure a customers’ progression through the buying cycle. You have to really know audience behavior to break down all the teeny tiny conversions you can influence along the way – and measure how you’re doing. You might be looking at the time of day a certain social network encourages the most downloads of your white paper. Or you might be looking at how certain types of influencers improve you engagement. You could be measuring the things Google calls “micro-moments” or what Brian Solis calls the “ultimate moment of truth” post-purchase.
Go back and take a look at the last few purchases. If you’re B2B, make sure you know how the client found you, what the process was, ask them what they read when they researched you, all that stuff. If you’re selling B2C it should be easier to take a group of buyers and look at their online behavior. Did they come through social media, off an ad to a landing page, really look at the details. If you’re looking at post-purchase behaviors, find out what reviews or recommendations are driving more sales and see if you can learn more about the reviewer. (Then go find more of that guy.)
We have enough information to research past consumer behavior and review how our audience engaged. You just have to get all Encyclopedia Brown on it.
I’ll give you some more pragmatic advice in the next few blog posts, promise.
