管理营销预算，不仅仅需要战略定位；保住盈利底线，必须要预测投资价值。

managing your marketing dollars means more than strategic positioning. to build your bottom line, you’ll need to predict the value of your investments.

the mental playbook that guides every cmo’s decisions is in need of a new chapter. created through years of success in the marketing organization, the lessons in it are currently built on predictable marketing strengths such as brand management, strategic positioning, customer management, integrated communications, lead generation and sales management.

now don’t get me wrong; those are incredible assets when they are consistently leveraged in intuitive decision making. but when it comes to the discipline of profitability management, far fewer marketing executives have the same depth of career-long experience from which to draw. perhaps it seemed like a safe assumption to make at the time: if finance managers didnt need to know marketing, then marketers wouldnt need to know finance. in today’s corporate environment, however, marketers are being held accountable for driving profits to the bottom line.

business-savvy cmos understand the need to demonstrate and deliver a clear contribution to corporate profitability, regardless of the pressures within the organization. today’s momentum toward greater accountability from marketing may be a challenge to cmos because it’s unfamiliar, but demonstrating that accountability will assure marketing executives a higher level of credibility and respect.

goal to go

the starting point is to understand the four primary components of the infrastructure supporting marketing profitability management. they are:

goal alignment.?most marketing organizations have a solid process for setting, tracking and managing clearly stated goals and objectives. the problem is the significant gap between traditional marketing metrics and corporate objectives. data, technology, analytics and methodologies have advanced, but metrics have become the goals instead of the measures. the time has come to re align marketing objectives and metrics with critical financial and strategic business objectives.

as part of that process, you’ll need to map the objectives for each tactical initiative to the business goals, providing clarity in the role of marketing at both the organization and staff levels. are your marketing objectives and metrics dominated by traditional measures such as brand awareness, cost per lead and response rates? or do they focus on business goals such as profit growth, roi and customer value improvements? be sure you have the marketing metrics to clearly and consistently drive decisions in support of those business objectives.

roi optimization.?the financial management component of the infrastructure is made up of measurements, modeling, analytics and roi calculations. it is this roi framework that uncovers the key profit drivers underlying marketing decisions and feeds financial intelligence into the strategic planning process.

with a consistent approach to estimating, calculating and measuring, the marketing organization would be well-positioned to prioritize and optimize its budget allocation. however, the analysis that feeds into roi calculations is generally weak within the marketing function. the discipline of market testing, for example, is ingrained into the culture at some organizations and completely alien to others. and even though media mix modeling is often used in packaged goods companies, the conclusions are often underutilized or not fully understood.

the initial challenge with adopting roi analysis is the lack of historical information for creating reliable assumptions. building a knowledge base that reflects marketing’s financial performance and profitability dynamics will allow cmos to improve precision over time, earning them a greater share of profits. to do that, be sure to ask yourself this: are the techniques and processes in place to manage resource allocation and optimization in the strategic and tactical planning stages?

funnel management.?sales organizations live and die by their ability to manage the sales funnel. when prospects fail to progress through the funnel in a consistent, timely manner, the impact on the next few quarters’ results becomes all too apparent. marketing needs to embrace funnel management and the insights gained from a tight linkage between brand positioning, demand generation, prospect relationships, revenue generation and, ultimately, the customer relationships that follow.

the process involves mapping the detailed stages through which prospects progress—from both the organization’s perspective (build awareness, establish positioning, generate response) and the buyer’s perspective (acknowledge pain, seek solutions, assess options). only by understanding where current marketing initiatives are concentrated within the funnel stages can you identify gaps, further analyze reasons for progression and leakage, and tighten integration between the series of marketing contacts that are required to drive profitable actions at the end of the funnel. moreover, funnel management will help to maintain the cmo’s focus on influencing customer progression and break the habit of focusing on delivering marketing activities.

marketing dashboard?while the marketing roi framework enables marketers to complete the analyses necessary to assess profitability at the tactical level, the dashboard enables marketing executives to manage profitability across the organization.

a marketing dashboard is much more than a graphical representation of summarized marketing results. it combines diagnostic and predictive functionality to deliver actionable insight, and it prompts corrective actions when necessary. a well-designed dashboard presents cmos with an easy-to-assess, one-page overview of the top metrics that align with business objectives.

a mix of financial projections, brand health, funnel progression, strategic initiatives, and organizational metrics are carefully selected and customized to the role of each management level. alerts and triggers indicate when the variance in performance represents a major threat or opportunity that requires additional diagnosis or action. just for starters, consider how a consolidated view of marketing performance could strengthen your own decision making. which metrics are the best indicators of how well marketing is performing? what is driving variance in that performance and the expected outcome on results? if you are going to keep your finger on the pulse of your marketing performance, make sure youre using the right set of metrics.

play by play

the benefits of marketing profitability management go well beyond basic profit improvements and addressing accountability concerns. as marketing gains greater control over delivering on business objectives, its credibility and importance in strategic decisions at the corporate level increases significantly.

each of the four components supports the disciplined process of marketing profitability management extending across strategic planning, measurement, forecasting and portfolio management. establishing and advancing strengths in these areas requires the development of skills, tools, culture and technology. the organization’s mind-set is the key driver of success, a success that depends on the commitment levels and mind-set of the business leadership.

as a marketing organization builds its capabilities, closes gaps and integrates the marketing process within each of these four areas, its ability to take greater control over profitability outcomes can significantly increase. and a number of clear benefits will become apparent as that infrastructure evolves. first, you will see improved analytic capabilities. you will also gain increased insight and understanding, allowing you to make more informed decisions. finally, the creation of a rich repository of historical performance and increased forecasting capabilities will lead to increased profitability.

creating an infrastructure that supports profitability management will provide the cmo with the ability to plan, test and manage major marketing initiatives with a higher degree of confidence. it also supports the development of a financially sound business case that meets the needs of the ceo and cfo.

it’s a whole new game for cmos today. the question is whether you are choosing the game of avoiding these new expectations for accountability or choosing to lead the organizations adoption of more advanced approaches for managing marketing profitability. certainly, the opportunities exist to gain a competitive advantage as cmos build on current strengths in infrastructure and close gaps where weaknesses exist. the mental playbooks each marketing executive brings to his or her role become only more valuable with the insight that marketing profitability management brings.

每个首席市场官心目中的决策指南都应该增添新篇章了。经过在营销部门的多年历练，他们积累了丰富的经验。这些经验都建立在种种可预测的营销力量基础之上，诸如品牌管理、战略定位、客户管理、沟通一体化、销售线索和销售管理，等等。

不要误会，如果在直觉的反应下做决策，这些经验都能派上用场。但是，当涉及盈利能力管理的时候，很少首席市场官有同样丰富的经验可以借鉴。如果财务经理不需要了解营销，那么市场人员已不需要具备财务常识。这个假设看起来似乎没有什么问题，可是在当今的公司环境中它并不成立，因为市场人员必须担负起推动盈利的职责。

精通业务的首席市场官们清楚，无论内部压力有多大，必须证明营销部门能为公司盈利的提高做出贡献。现在，营销部门要为公司盈利承担更多的责任，这对首席市场官来说是个巨大的挑战， 因为他们并不熟悉这个任务。但是如果能够应对这个挑战，那他们就会在公司获得更高的信任和更多的尊重。

行动目标

首先要了解支持营销盈利能力管理的4个基本要素：

目标一致

大部分营销部门在制定、跟踪和管理目标上都有完善、清晰的流程。问题是传统的营销测量系统和公司的目标之间存在着巨大的鸿沟。数据、技术、分析和方法有了很大进步，但是测量体系却被当成了目标，而非实现目标的手段。现在，必须要使营销目标、测量系统与财务指标、战略业务目标保持一致。

在这个目标校准的过程中，必须要明确每个营销活动的业务目的，使之符合公司的整体目标，管理层和一线员工对营销的作用必须一清二楚。营销目标和测量体系是以品牌知名度、销售线索成本和反应率这些传统的方法为主，还是以利润增长、投资回报率和客户价值改善的业务目标为主？要确定公司的营销测量体系能够不断帮助领导层做出实现公司业务目标的决策。

优化投资回报率

在盈利能力管理体系中，基础财务管理架构包括测评手段、建模、分析和投资回报率计算。正是这个投资回报率框架揭示了引发营销决策的驱动力量，把财务情报加入到战略规划流程中去。

如果一直采用统一的预测、计算和测量手段，那么营销部门就能够找出使用营销预算的优先顺序和优化资源的方法。但是一般公司营销部门对投资回报率的分析能力有限。比如，市场测试已经融入某些公司的文化当中，而有的公司对此却一窍不通。日常消费品公司虽然经常使用媒体组合模型，但是建模得出的结论很少被采纳，或者得不到充分的理解。

对投资回报率分析来说，最具挑战性的就是缺乏历史数据，从而无法生成可靠的假设。如果能够建立起反映营销的财务绩效和盈利动力的知识基础，就能够帮助首席市场官不断提高准确度，提升营销部门对公司盈利的贡献比例。为了实现这一目标，一定要弄明白这个问题：在战略战术规划阶段，进行资源分配和优化的技术和流程是否到位？

漏斗法销售过程管理

销售部门的存亡取决于他们是否能够管理销售漏斗。如果没有能够持续、及时地通过漏斗渠道找到潜在客户，今后接下来几个季度的销售业绩势必受到明显的影响。营销必须包括漏斗管理，必须通过在品牌定位、生成需求、潜在客户关系、创收以及随之而来的客户关系等方面之间建立紧密的联系，获得对市场的深入了解。

在漏斗法销售过程中，既要从公司的角度（打造知名度、定位、产生回馈）、也要从客户的角度（承认痛苦、寻找出路、评估选项）细致描绘潜在客户产生的各个阶段。只有了解了当前营销活动在漏斗销售过程中所处的阶段，才能够填补空白，进一步分析产生问题的原因，加强营销各个环节的联系整合，最终推动利润的生成。不仅如此，漏斗管理还能够帮助首席市场官把精力集中在客户推进的流程上，打破过去只重视实施营销活动的惯例。

营销显示板

营销投资回报率框架能够让市场人员完成必要的分析，在战术层面上评估盈利能力，而营销显示板能够让营销高层管理人员管理好整个公司的盈利能力。

营销显示板不仅仅显示营销结果，它还将营销诊断和预测综合起来，以便确定可行的营销方案，必要的时候还能够纠正错误。设计完善的显示板能够让首席市场官掌握一套易于评估、简单明了、且与公司业务目标相一致的关键测量系统。

对财务计划、品牌健康、漏斗进展、战略行动和组织测量体系，要精挑细选，使之与每一层级管理角色相适应。 如果业绩发生变化，显示板上会有警示，显示有危机或机会出现，需要有针对性地进行诊断或采取行动。对于刚开始接触显示板的公司，应当认识到如果公司各方面对营销业绩有一致的看法，就会加强营销决策的做出。要搞清楚哪些测量最能反映营销效果？驱动营销效果的变量是什么？期望的结果是什么？如果要准确把握营销表现的脉搏，就必须保证你使用的是正确的测量体系。

步步为赢

营销盈利能力管理带来的效益远远超出提升基础利润和承担责任等。随着营销对公司业务目标的影响力越来越大，它在公司的可信度和战略决策中的重要性也日益增加。

上述4个要素支撑着包括战略规划、测量、预测、组合管理在内的营销盈利能力管理流程。培养和加强这些领域的力量，必须推动各种技能、工具、文化和技术的发展。公司的思维方式则是推动成功的关键，而公司领导层投入的程度以及他们的思维方式则是成功的保证。

如果营销部门能够在这4个方面加强能力、填补空白、整合营销流程，其对公司盈利能力的影响力将会得到极大的提高。随着盈利能力管理体系的逐渐建立，它所带来的效益会日趋明显。首先可以看到营销部门分析能力得到提升；第二，洞察力和理解能力也有很大进步，这一切使营销部门能够做出更有依据的决策；最后，创造丰富的历史绩效纪录、提升预测能力能够促使公司提高盈利能力。

打造支持盈利能力管理的基础体系能够让首席市场官更有信心、更有能力去规划、测试和管理重大的营销活动。这个基础构架还能够满足首席执行官和财务官的需求，支撑财务健全的公司继续发展。

这一切对首席市场官来说是全新的挑战。规避责任还是领导营销部门适应先进的方法以促进营销的盈利能力？选择权在你的手中。当然，利用现有的基础、消除其中的薄弱环节来获得竞争优势也是可能的。只有在每位首席市场官深入洞察了营销盈利能力管理的意义之后，他们心目中的决策指南才更有价值。

(王欣红 译)