The Paine of Measurement, November 2021
If nothing else, the recent Summit on the Future of Communications Measurement was diverse. Not only did we have some great conversations about diversity, but we also covered a wide range of topics, including the state of DE&I, ESG, culture, and especially the ubiquitous “funnel”—be it the marketing funnel or anything else.
For nearly a century marketers and communications professionals have assumed that the purchase decision-making process looked like this:
But to paraphrase the Summit participants, today’s decision-making process looks much more like this:
It starts with your audience and whatever issues are on their minds. These days, how and where you can influence the actions of your audience is all over the map. Influence comes in many forms:
- A random news story may cause a loyal customer to cancel your service and switch to a rival.
- An unwanted charge on a bill may initiate a call to a competitor or bring out the scissors to cut up your loyalty card.
- Pictures on your website may attract or repel the talent you are trying to recruit.
- A movie parody on TikTok is just as likely to help sell a movie ticket as a review on Rotten Tomatoes.
The important lesson is that if you aren’t in tune with what your audience is seeing, feeling, believing, or perceiving, good luck getting them to try to take action.
So, in this issue of The Measurement Advisor we glean the most salient lessons and experiences from the myriad experts and futurists who joined us at the Summit. We boil it all down to a few juicy bites of brilliance:
- In the sessions by Gloria Puentes and Charlene Wheeless, we learned the dos and don’ts of doing diversity well. See: Diversity Lessons From Leaders Who Have Lived Them.
- From Eve Stevens we learned how Microsoft has pivoted from tracking news to tracking the desires, beliefs, and passions of its new and unexpected audiences. See 6 Sexy Snapshots from the 2021 Summit on the Future of Measurement.
- From Elizabeth Fry we learned the challenges of trying to measure results when you’re working in multiple countries, numerous languages, and a wide variety of cultures. See 6 Sexy Snapshots from the 2021 Summit on the Future of Measurement.
- From Deanna Centurion we learned about an intriguing new phenomenon: the silent advocacy CEO. See 6 Sexy Snapshots from the 2021 Summit on the Future of Measurement.
- From Cindy Villafranca we learned how one’s reputation tracks with all the millions of other things happening in the world—never mind your marketplace. See 6 Sexy Snapshots from the 2021 Summit on the Future of Measurement.
- From Michael Ziviani we discovered a new model that replaces the old, cracked, and leaking marketing funnel. See Someone Put Holes in the Marketing Funnel — Now it’s a Sieve.
- And of course, Jim Schaeffer and Mark Stouse kept us focused on how all this communication affects the bottom line, regardless of how it is defined. See 6 Sexy Snapshots from the 2021 Summit on the Future of Measurement.
Also in this issue:
- How to improve your measurement by listening to your audience: 4 Steps to Measure Communications from the Audience Perspective.
- A summary of the results of a recent PR News survey of PR pros: see Surprisingly Good News—and Some Bad News, too—about What PR People Think Is the Future of Measurement.
- People to praise, and learn from: The Librarians of Maryland Are the Measurement Mavens of the Month.
- And people to criticize, and learn from: People Who Don’t Measure Because They’re Afraid of What They Will Find Out Are the Measurement Menaces of the Month.
- Think before you speak, and read before you think. Here you go: Your November 2021 Communications Measurement Reading List.
- And from Daphne Gray-Grant, Seven Tips to Rediscover Your Writing Creativity.
We hope you enjoy this issue, and the beginning of the holiday season. Happy measurement:
Image at top based on photos by PetoLenin on Pixabay, and by John Adams on Unsplash.
