The evaluation of marketing performance measurement in South African Companies
Date
2011-04-19
Authors
Madi, Cebisile
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Abstract
Marketing performance measurement is a burning platform for both the academics and practitioners. Marketing spend is seen as rising with no means for marketers to quantify the returns. Marketing performance measurement is seen as the means to hold marketers accountable for „every marketing dollar‟. Marketers are challenged to demonstrate the impact of their activities on business outcomes. This study aims to evaluate marketing performance measurement by South African companies and the perceived benefits thereof. A survey was conducted among South African marketers from a range of industries and sectors, where 78 respondents completed a questionnaire on metrics usage and the perceived benefits thereof. The data was collected on a Likert-scale and was analysed using a quantitative methodology (descriptive statistics followed by Distribution Fitting Algorithm). The main finding of this research was that marketers are using the more traditional set of metrics such as sales, sales trends, market share and market trends. Marketers are not using the more advanced set of metrics such as brand equity, customer equity and customer lifetime value. Overall the findings indicated that marketers are not linking their activities to overall company performance. Marketers are aware of the benefits of measuring marketing performance but may lack the analytical skills required to utilise the more advanced metrics. Marketers need to link their activities to company performance in order to get the credibility they deserve in the boardroom. Management needs to provide marketers with the necessary technology to collect real time data needed to compute the more advanced metrics and the skills to enable them to measure their performance effectively.
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Marketing performance measurement, Marketing