The risks of the Marketing Manager being oblivious to metrics

In the constant evolution of business, marketing plays a crucial role in organizations’ strategies. However, it is notable that many professionals working in marketing departments lack a solid understanding of measuring metrics and how their actions directly impact business performance.

To illustrate this problem, let’s consider the fictional case of Cláudio, a marketing manager at an e-commerce company.

Cláudio is a dedicated and creative individual, constantly generating brilliant ideas for marketing campaigns, creating engaging content and planning strategies to raise the company’s visibility. However, his approach presents a fundamental challenge: he lacks the ability to adequately measure the results of his actions.

For example, Cláudio devotes a significant amount of time and resources to creating promotional videos for social media, but he lacks the necessary mechanisms to evaluate how these videos influence the company’s sales. Furthermore, he invests in paid ads, but is unable to track the ROI (Return on Investment) of his campaigns. The lack of metrics evaluation leaves you in the dark about the effectiveness of your strategies, preventing you from discerning which actions work and which need adjustments or revision.

The lack of measurement of results in the field of marketing has an adverse impact on the effectiveness of Cláudio’s actions and, consequently, on the company’s success. Without solid metrics and hard data to inform his decisions, he is effectively acting blindly. This situation, it is worth highlighting, is not exclusive to Cláudio, being a common problem faced by many marketing professionals.

The repercussions of not evaluating metrics in marketing can be significant and harmful. Let’s analyze some of the main problems that Cláudio and the company face due to this gap:

1. Inefficient Allocation of Financial Resources: Without the ability to track Return on Investment, Cláudio ends up allocating resources to strategies that may not be generating significant results. This results in an ineffective allocation of financial resources, which could be directed more efficiently.

2. Ignored Opportunities: The lack of measurement prevents Cláudio from identifying opportunities for growth. He may be ignoring strategies that could boost the company’s sales simply because he cannot measure their impact.

3. Difficulty in Justifying Investments: When senior management questions Cláudio about the results of his actions, he faces challenges in providing concrete data. This hurts your ability to justify marketing investments and can result in budget cuts.

4. Demotivation and Frustration: Cláudio and his team may feel unmotivated and frustrated because they cannot see the impact of their work. The lack of measurable results can undermine the marketing team’s motivation.

5. Decision Making Based on Assumptions: Cláudio often makes decisions based on assumptions or intuition rather than real data. This can result in mistaken strategic choices that harm the company.

6. Deterioration of Customer Relationships: Failure to evaluate metrics can harm Cláudio’s ability to understand customer preferences and behaviors, which in turn leads to a decline in the quality of customer relationships.

To solve this problem, Cláudio and his company need to prioritize the evaluation of marketing metrics. This involves using analytical tools, setting clear goals, monitoring key performance indicators and adapting strategies based on the data collected. Assessment is essential to understanding what works and what doesn’t, allowing Cláudio to make informed decisions and optimize the marketing department’s performance.

In short, the lack of measurement metrics in marketing represents a significant challenge faced by many professionals, with serious implications for the success of companies. It is imperative that organizations invest in training and measurement tools to ensure their marketing strategies are backed by hard data and measurable results. Only with a data-driven approach as an integral part of marketing can companies reach their full potential and maintain a competitive advantage in the market.

*Diogo Gouvêa He is a PhD student in Production and Systems Engineering, Master in Administration from IBMEC-RJ. Postgraduate in Marketing at Coppead and MBA in Finance and Controllership from Fundação Getulio Vargas. COPPEAD Executive MBA. History in Trade Marketing, Retail Management, Negotiation, Sales, Pricing and Commercial Planning. Professional with 16 years of experience in large companies such as Supergasbras, Grupo Petrópolis, L’Oreal, Raízen, Cosan and ExxonMobil.