A lot of my posts refer to "analytics strategy" or "measurement strategy". I imagine that it may not be 100% clear what I mean by that.
If you do a search for this topic, you are likely to find a few articles that mostly focus on a process that identifies business objectives, tactical goals, KPIs and audience segments. Most authors lean into simplification and don't go much further.
Looking further, there is a larger body of work dedicated to building measurement frameworks for business. The most common focuses for these methodologies are the "balanced scorecard" and the "family of measures". Although marketing measurement frameworks are most similar to the "family of measures" approach, it is not exactly aligned. I would argue that there is much more that should be considered in a full measurement strategy. It is also critical to understand the role of the "trusted advisor", because, as analytics practitioners, we are often dealing with issues of organizational maturity. The full measurement strategy gives us a vehicle to address these unique needs.
So, here I am providing a description of what I consider the key components of a scalable measurement strategy.
Analytics is a scalable offering. It has some minimum components, and it can extend to meet the needs of the organization. This is critical to understand because analytics is invasive--it touches on everything and has many nooks-and-crannies that need to be recognized. Here is a list of features that I include.
Minimum: The Measurement Brief
This is the bare minimum for any marketing project. If you have limited budget or a disinterested client, then the Measurement Brief is probably a good default.
• Business Objectives
• Business Impact Measures
• Program | Project Objective
• Program | Project KPIs
• Channel diagnostic metrics (for campaigns)
• Ecosystem diagrams (touch points and data sources)
• Primary Use Case diagrams (key content and actions)
Proper: The Measurement Strategy
This is the full performance management playbook for a program | project. There are many aspects that would otherwise need to be accounted for by project management or the account team. Here we bring those elements together to have a more complete conversation with the client about analytics and how to manage performance over time.
• Performance Review schedule | calendar
• Business and Technical requirements
• Legal and Privacy considerations
• Risk Factors
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Roadmap
Next Level: Additional Features to Consider
Sometimes you are lucky to work with an organization that is interested in growing and improving holistically. If they consider you a Trusted Advisor, then you may have a chance to have an unusually meaningful impact on their business. In that case, consider these additional features to include in your Measurement Strategy.
• Benchmarking and data-driven goal setting
• Data-driven personalization programs
• Test and Learn program
• CX Journey analytics (aka KPI sequencing)
• Organizational data strategy
• Martech roadmap
• Marketing and data governance
Measurement strategy has a lot of flexibility and a lot of potential. Understanding how to scale it and extend it is critical to getting the most value. At a minimum, it provides a simple description of how performance is measured that everyone can rally around. In its full form, the measurement strategy provides a robust playbook for engaging with an organization over time, developing organizational maturity and leading it to strategic value creation.