Is Your Marketing Program Working?

Source: CPA Practice Management Forum

The following excerpts are reprinted with permission.

Mitch Reno, CMO of Michigan-based The Rehmann Group, offers five tips for measuring the value of marketing and business-development investments:

1. Gain agreement on what’s important to track. Each year, partners and marketers should agree on the most important metrics, such as client satisfaction, retention rates, sales, or win rates. Too often, marketers make assumptions about what’s most important.
2. Follow the money. Partners and marketers should be talking about ROI before undertaking an initiative.
3. Leverage technology to capture metrics. From project management software to billing systems to commonly used forms, data must be captured when events occur, not after the fact.
4. Convert all reports into numeric outcomes. Focus on quantitative data as much as qualitative data in reports shared with partners. The “numbers” are meaningful to everyone and are trusted more than generic rhetoric.
5. Just enough is just the right amount to provide. Make sure reports are concise and relevant to the reader. Customize them to key audiences, such as the board of directors, partners, service line/niche leaders and firmwide audiences.

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From CPA Practice Management Forum, CCH Incorporated, 800-449-8114, March 2009, p. 10, “Top Five Ways to Make Marketing Metrics Work for Your Firm.”