Marketers ‘living in la-la-land’ by mistaking awareness for conversion

Some 76% of marketers are using the wrong measurements to track and prove the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, according to a new study.

Mobile customer engagement

Too many marketers are confusing engagement with conversion, according to Fournaise

The analysis by the Fournaise Marketing Group tracked 500 marketing strategies in the first half of the year found and branded the results as “shocking”.

It claims that 77% of marketers consider generating awareness a critical way of proving effectiveness because they assume that if a target audience sees a campaign it will automatically engage with them. However Fournaise claims this is wrong altogether.

“Awareness is nothing if not specifically built to generate interest, desire and ultimately action that have a direct positive impact on the company’s top line and/or bottom line,” says the report.

After awareness, 71% of marketers believe the next best way to prove effectiveness is through engagement. They do this using measurements such as website traffic, video views, open rates or likes and tweets.

Again, Fournaise says marketers are focusing on the wrong metrics as “engagement is nothing without conversion”. Plus, in a finding that Fournaise calls “the most alarming of all”, many marketers actually mistake engagement for conversion.

The report says 86% believe engagement KPIs prove that they generated more sales even though there is no link to actual revenues.

Jermo Fontaine, Fournaise’s global CEO and marketing performance chief, explains: “The question is simple, when are marketers going to finally realise that their job is to generate incremental (measurable and P&L-quantifiable) customer demand for their organisation’s products and services?

And when are they going to start tracking their marketing effectiveness accordingly?”

Too much focus on the ‘how’

Some 74% of marketers believe a campaign’s success is dependent on “standing out” through creativity, media placements or innovative digital activity. But the report found this placed the focus too much on the ‘how’ and not enough on the ‘what’.

This leads to brands neglecting their message and unique proposition in favour of high-profile campaigns.

“If marketers want to be taken seriously and have a bigger, stronger presence in the boardroom, they need to stop living in their la-la land and start behaving like real business people,” concludes Fontaine.

Do you want to ensure your brand’s social media campaign gets the recognition it deserves? Enter the retail category in this year’s Masters of Marketing. Go to the Masters site for details of how to enter.

Recommended