The great news about media metrics is that with the right analytical tools, you can measure every aspect of your programs.  The key is to understand the KPI’s (key performance indicators) you want to link to each on-line program or campaign and make sure you have a line of sight to the data required to do the analysis.  This can be a challenge if you do not have a good eCRM solution that collects a wide array of data or works across multiple data repositories.  For example, you want to be able to link click stream data with transaction and behavior data.  For many marketers, this includes linking off-line data with on-line data.

After you have analyzed program and campaign level media metrics including clicks, actions, impressions, creative, response and channel, you will want to focus on linked data analytics.  Examples include cost to acquire, margin, product related and lifetime value (LTV). 

Another important analysis step is optimization.  How can we maximize the use of the spend we have available.  This process looks at image/brand and direct response campaigns to shed insight on how each drives customer behavior and response.  Multi-channel marketers also integrate their off-line media in this process.  One outcome is an analysis of how multiple channels actually influence the desired response.  For example, how does broadcast influence search and on-line display ads.

The last topic to cover is attribution of sales to the appropriate direct response media or combination of channels.  For example, you may be using, display, paid search, affiliates, blogs, comparative shopping engines, off-site video, social media and off-line media such as catalogs, print and broadcast.  Which one drove the customer to your site and how many impressions across multiple channels are enough.

Next week we will look at site analytics in more detail.