Putting together the puzzle pieces of marketing ROI: Experts lay it out at Marketing.FWD Summit

Figuring out marketing ROI is like anti-math: One plus one does not equal two. Even with sound metrics and the analytic tools to make numbers march in lines, getting definitive data on what cost what and what was netted can seem like more of a crapshoot than a clear output on a crisp spreadsheet. Even deciding what to sort and sift — fixed costs, employee hours, direct campaign results vs results over time, the valuation of growing brand awareness — involves ambiguities not found when simply tracking increased sales. The long-term, multiple-touch effects of marketing don’t readily lend themselves to precise analysis.

Luckily for us all, the upcoming Marketing.FWD Summit boasts a stellar lineup of marketing mavens who will break down the intricacies of marketing ROI. Check out these heavy hitters:

• Brad Smallwood VP, Marketing Science, Facebook
• Pepijn Rijvers, CMO, Booking.com
• Morgan Hermand-Waiche, CEO and Founder, Adore Me
• David Bakey, VP Acquisition Marketing, Harry’s
• Brandon Berger, Worldwide CDO, Ogilvy

These speakers know that sussing out returns from a thick marketing mix is substantively different from determining numbers for a single tactic, like an outbound lead-gen campaign. Even one-time projects can involve intangibles, like those involved in determining how a single ad delivers if that ad can have a long-tail circulation through multiple channels over time. You might have to consider soft and hard factors like:

• Management and employee time/expenses
• IT costs
• Total revenue in view of gross vs net profits (plus taking in cost of goods sold)
• Costs over time to conversion (or not) from top-of-funnel to bottom-of-funnel efforts
• Even costs of analytic/metrics tools and time spent using the tools to assess these specific kinds of data

As you can see, even deciding what and when to measure is daunting. Long sales cycles might make solid early data not quite so solid. Long-term customer value might be under-represented if the tools can’t project deeper into revenue cycles. But reliable conversion metrics might wipe the glass clean (or at least cleaner), making it easier to see those numbers. Summit speakers will address these challenges — and their remedies — at the summit.

Testing and control groups will likely crop up in the discussions: Data is better refined if you can check something, like the results of sending focused email blasts vs a scheduled bi-weekly message, or the full track of a campaign against single touches.

Capturing definitive numbers for marketing ROI is all too quickly dismissed as impossible, like catching lightning in a bottle. But it’s not if you have the right bottle. Our speakers at the Marketing.FWD Summit are going to show you some captured lightning, though they probably won’t sell you their bottles.

Join these marketing mavens at Marketing.FWD Summit. Seats are filling up fast – register now!