“We are looking into adapting marketing mix modeling into something more dynamic and useful – more like attribution.”
And there you have it. The reason for all the interest in new methods of ROI analysis – “more dynamic and useful” — moving past the annual review of marketing ROI and reallocation of budgets to the “near real-time” tactical guidance to yield better ROIs during the campaign.
But the requirements for success are high and well, in truth, the industry isn’t there yet … despite the swift and sweeping change in what you hear and what people are talking about. You wouldn’t know that the industry isn’t there from looking at claims providers are making. As in any early-stage market, there’s a lot of hyperbole and over-promising. (Can everyone be using “best in class” data and analytics?) We are very excited about the pace of change, but it’s important every once in a while to stop and see where we are, where we’re going and what it’s going to take to get there.
As few as four years ago, marketing mix models ruled media and marketing budget allocation and the new approach, attribution, was purely about digital paths and allocation. The gulf between the two systems that have similar outcomes (contribution to sales) was wide.
Today, the two are coming closer together. Mix models can now incorporate attribution and attribution is striving to incorporate media and marketing events beyond digital. But it’s a confusing time – there are many vendors, many promises, and many different approaches emerging in ROI evaluation.
