When Your Tagline Is Move the Needle
When we declared that our branding line was “Move the Needle,” it started an agencywide effort to make sure we were measuring all that we could. For many marketing endeavors, it is not as easy as it looks. And now for digital, it is not as easy either.
I stumbled across this eMarketer chart that shows the “primary metric for measuring the effectiveness of digital advertising is not as simple as first proclaimed by Google.”
You can see that the ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is the No. 1 metric, according to this perception study by Nanigans. I’m not sure this is always a good guide. Most marketers know there is a residual effect to marketing. Not everyone sees an ad and quickly buys into what you’re selling. For many, the process takes time.
In fact, more than one metric should be used.
It’s just like getting healthy. What one measure should you use — body fat, blood pressure, cholesterol? Or should you look at all of them to get a good measure of your health? I take the holistic approach.
For digital, you should be looking at several key measures: cost per impression, cost per conversation (or action), website visitor levels and overall revenue lift (if that is part of the plan). The holistic approach makes for better insight and better decisions. And your bottom line will be healthier.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
