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PM Forum - Dublin
Measuring marketing activities: are you getting bang for your buck?
The 10 billion dollar question “How to measure marketing activities” was the topic for discussion at PM Forum Ireland’s recent seminar. The event was kindly hosted and presented by Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon (BTRG) a leading accountancy practice that has recently undergone a brand review following the merger of Baker Tilly with PKF Ryan Glennon in April 2007. The practice is an independent member of top ten global accountancy practice Baker Tilly International.
Aidan Byrne, Tax Partner discussed how their recent branding exercise enabled the practice to review the way that marketing integrated with their business. BTRG take a two pronged approach to marketing through brand building and business winning. Byrne stressed the importance of aligning expenses to a targeted activity or sector and emphasised the importance of the personal touch through face to face interaction which allows fee earners to demonstrate their competence as well as building relationships with potential clients.
The old adage that time is money was reiterated by Byrne, he is an accountant after all! BTRG measure their commitment to marketing by assigning a significant portion of non billable time to the function.
Based on a practice with 25 senior fee earners, Byrne calculated that the cost of marketing activity for a practice of this size would be over €2,000,000 annually.
Other measurement tools cited by Byrne included web metrics, advertising tracking, market research, fee income and possibly the most effective tool of all, face to face engagement.
Catherine Corcoran, HR Partner with responsibility for strategic and business planning throughout the practice, presented the strategic importance of integrating marketing across the practice. BTRG’s approach coordinates business winning through their business planning process.
Corcoran spoke about empowering all members of staff to be part of the success of the practice. BTRG achieve this by aligning the practice’s overall strategic plan to each member of staff’s Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) which cascades back to the overall strategic plan. In other words the organisational strategy is reflected in individual PCDPs and the PCDPs reflect the organisational strategy. This has proven to be an effective form of measurement as well as being a key differentiator in their business offering.
The practice’s Key Performance Indicators of growth, people, finance and operations are reflected in plans across the organisation. Essential to any successful plan is accountability at the highest level and to that end BTRG are taking their obligations very seriously. A Partnership Executive board ensure that the strategic plan is actioned, while Corcoran also noted the important role that the management team plays in making the strategic plan a reality.
It was acknowledged that the role of marketing is often misunderstood, however BTRG have implemented a Business Winning Marketing Plan which allows marketing activity to be measured on a number of different levels, with revenue leading the field.
Both Corcoran and Byrne acknowledged that marketing is an inexact science and measurement can often be challenging but they highlighted the importance of strategic planning, marketing integration throughout the organisation and tracking tangible factors such as revenue and feedback
Liz Hughes
McDowell Purcell Solicitors
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