Letter to B&T Magazine

April 2004, page 24 by Grant Halloran, Orbis CEO.

James Sheffield's article "No more Good News Bears-Creating a Culture of Marketing Effectiveness"(B&T, April 2) was an insightful and timely piece of advice for Marketers.

James has provided wise counsel: creating a "system to force evaluation of every marketing dollar spent" is a good starting point. However, I think what he really means is that the best place to start is to create a mindset around reviewing effectiveness, and he proposes several practical ways to get this moving.

In my experience, most marketers do want to review and measure their performance. They do want to know what is working and what is not. It's just that (as James has pointed out) they simply don't have the time to do it before the next campaign is upon them! However, "forcing" a new process on people isn't necessarily the answer either the business world is littered with system implementations or major process re-engineering projects that have never delivered business results. Why? Changing the way a marketing department operates is like tinkering with the engines on a plane while it's flying 900 km/h at 30,000 feet.

In my view the answer lies in doing two things: Firstly, marketers must invest in a 'change system' that gives them the information they need without additional effort in getting it. It's unrealistic to expect marketers to do more than they are currently doing without giving them extra to do it. James is right: marketing departments need to produce Post Implementation Reviews, but they don't need the extra hours of compiling them. Provide them tools that produce what they need without burdensome human effort.

Secondly, invest in a change management program that is focused on transforming the marketing business. Implementing new tools or ways of doing things is not the end goal. Rather, the goal needs to be stated in terms of the ultimate business outcome the marketer is seeking. James has rightly pointed out that many CRM implementations the world over have not fulfilled their promise, primarily because the ultimate business goal was forgotten.

Achieving such an outcome is more about human change then mechanical change.

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