For Communication and
Marketing professionals, the term ROI has an interesting Jekyll and
Hyde ability to both be the stuff of dreams, but also of nightmares.
With seemingly more phrases invented every day in the hope of better
understanding our effort-to-outcome ratio, it’s understandable that as
an industry we have a bit of a headache.
In between the day-to-day fires that need to be extinguished, the
projects that land on your desk at the last minute, or the new ideas
that spark during your train ride into the office – there’s not a lot of
time left in the day to reflect. We don’t have a spare moment to sit
down and really think about what went out the door, where it went, how
it performed, what could be leveraged or learned from, let alone to
package up an overview of the overall impact against investment.
While there are many steps we can take to make measurement and
analysis of our activities simpler, an interesting change has occurred
that – like most ROI conversations – is one we’re not yet comfortable
with.
Given the explosion of channels, formats and the ways in which we can
now interact with content (whether it’s a blog, press release or
tweet), the ability to gauge impact by media type has become
increasingly complex. On one hand, you have a fairly straight-forward
pattern – like a blog from a company website which is then shared on
social channels and reshaped as the case may be. On the other hand, you
could have a story that sparks from a singular event which is picked up
and discussed across TV and broadcast while also setting off a flurry of
audience-generated memes on social – dominating the Twitter-sphere for
the next 24hrs.
Which begs the question, how does one measure impact and make sense of the relative investment if there is no clear ‘home’?
While this may sound like splitting hairs, the ability to craft
something that will have a viral impact sparks the same Jekyll and Hyde
feelings within us all. You have the power to generate attention across a
massive audience – and could arguably have more impact if you’re
seeking awareness or exposure. However, pulling together a report on
this activity amidst the aftermath presents itself to be both complex
and painful – particularly if you’re accountable for every dollar. Not
to mention the question of integrity given the volume of information,
stories and content served to everyone across the globe – with no current index to which everyone can map.
As measurement grows in complexity, the ability to capture and
leverage an insight service that helps you to make sense of your
activity is crucial – allowing you to continue focusing on the juggle
between fires, last minute press releases, interviews and more. As the
industry continues to evolve, the challenges we
face are set to continue
becoming increasingly intertwined. This is where real data intelligence
will step in – not only providing clarity to make media pay their way,
but to also simplify the effort needed to make such leaps happen.
If you’re looking to better understand how to capture, manage and measure your media, feel free to reach out to our team.
Gill Matthews, Marketing Director at Isentia
As also featured on Mumbrella.