We recommend companies measure their marketing investment against their impact on three primary goals -- growth in profitable revenue, customer retention, and awareness/positioning. Some examples would include:

Metrics Pertinent to Revenue Growth Goals

From the baseline, improvements in:

• Marketing cost per lead
• Marketing cost per sale
• Conversion rates and elapsed time between each stage of the sales cycle
• Total elapsed time from initial marketing touch until close
• Percent of leads closed for each marketing campaign  
  
  

Metrics Pertinent to Awareness/Positioning Goals

Results of annual study demonstrating growth in:

• Unaided awareness of product/solution and/or company
• Aided awareness of product/solution and/or company
• Association with attributes identified in goals and marketing strategy
  
  

Metrics Pertinent to Customer Retention Goals

From the baseline, improvements in:

• Share of wallet
• Satisfaction ratings       
• Changes in maintenance or subscription services renewal rate
• Number of opt-ins to customer mailing list program
  
  

Although this list is by no means exhaustive, these metrics should be easily measured and they capture each of the areas where marketing should be making an impact.

I am happy that you are asking this question. When I was VP I insisted that every marketing investment start with a specific goal, ensuring that the plans for the activity included a means to measure outcomes. We then assessed the impact of different activities against the highest priority goals, and balanced future investments based on that data.

Answered by Adele Revella