Marketing has its March Madness that is almost as crazy and exciting as basketball’s. March is the month that the numbers start to matter: Are we meeting sales projections for the first quarter? Is our PR working? Are our leads real? Are our communities engaged? Has our product launch worked?

At Zer0 to 5ive we work hard to establish metrics for the work we do – it’s in our best interest and our clients. We often use the end of March as the time to evaluate the strategies and tactics that we have implemented. It’s easy to adjust strategy, take advantage of the things that are working and try new ideas. Measurement and flexibility go hand in hand. Ultimately, marketing and communications is about conditioning the environment for sales and customer loyalty. Those are metrics that you can take to the bank!

Here are a few of the things you can measure and some ideas of how you can measure them:

• PR – perception, message pick up, volume/awareness, quality of coverage, leads (occasionally)
• Direct mail – leads
• Email – opens, click-throughs, quality of list, leads
• Advertising – leads, visits to web site or calls
• Social media – re-tweets, volume, engagement, interest, buzz
• SEO – rankings

Michelle Pujadas is the Founder and C0-CEO of Zer0 to 5ive

The start of every year brims with opportunities for great marketing and results. Here are some key take-aways from 2009 as we move into 2010.

Key Marketing Take-Aways From 2009

1. Your message and brand fundamentals are as critical as ever

2. The addition of a multitude of new channels via social media only means that it is more important than ever to understand who your audience is and where they get their information

3. The press release is not dead – in fact it is more versatile and useful than ever before

4. SEO is critical, but it must be aligned with traditional marketing strategies

5. Customers and prospects still love – and react to – great creative in all its forms

6. Customers will tell you what you want to know if you ask the right questions

7. In an age of electronic communications, a phone call or hand-written note goes a long way. Along those lines, bulky direct mail gets opened

8. Despite the decline of print media, nothing makes a client more excited than seeing their name in print

9. A great customer reference is invaluable

10. Measurement in all its forms continues to be a challenge – but it can be done and with the growth of web analytic, instant metrics are becoming an industry standard.

And, as always, an integrated strategic communications plan that takes into account all facets of marketing and public relations always delivers the best results! Begin 2010 with a resolution to make your marketing count.

Post by Zer0 to 5ive CEO Michelle Pujadas

I gave a presentation on brand building recently and someone asked me about Twitter:  should he be using it or not? I answered his question with one of my own: who are your customers and prospects and how do they communicate?

One of the keys to successful communications is knowing your target customer. How do they get their information? Who influences them? Are they on Twitter, or are they more likely to meet at seminars or read the industry and financial pubs, either online or in hard copy?

What we are seeing is that more and more companies and media are getting on Twitter and making valuable connections. For business people and marketers, Twitter provides a fast action communications channel that can be leveraged for brand — and business — building. However, at the end of the day, I believe that it will take more than 140 characters to “seal the deal;” in the meantime, the rise and excitement around Twitter makes it even more important for companies to re-examine who their customers are and how (and where) they communicate.

(Posted by Michelle Pujadas)