REDEFINING SUCCESS: ENGAGEMENT AS THE FOUNDATION OF MARKETING IMPACT

It seems today that everyone has a different approach to measuring and understanding success. Much of this might be driven by different marketing objectives, but our survey suggests that engagement is at the top of the priority list for many marketing folks.

For us, engagement is a foundational metric that drives many others; without it dwell time on websites, click rates etc. and the holy grail of ROI will all be lower without consumers wanting to connect with your brand and the products/services you offer. There are three components for engagement. Attention, do people know who you are, and notice what you’re saying? Technology means this is becoming increasingly measurable and is the starting point for success, you must be seen to generate any effect. Secondly is Fit. This can be divided into brand relevance, does your audience’s values align with yours? Do they have a need and/or are they in-market for your product or service? You can’t sell ice to Eskimos as the adage goes. Finally, and most importantly; emotional response. Are you stirring up the feelings of your audience? Trust, love, and desire create a reaction regardless of the sector you play in. We buy with our hearts and justify the decision with our heads.

We frequently measure proxies for these three attributes, likes, shares, retention and churn rates etc., but these only tell us if consumers have engaged, not why they have. It’s like measuring whether a plane has successfully landed without understanding gravity. By measuring what we call the three foundation metrics we can start to influence higher-level KPIs by understanding not just what is working but why it’s working.