95% of brands struggle to show real ROI

UK brands are quite obviously active advertisers and employ various integrated channels but they still find it difficult to see ROI, a recent survey from BSkyB’s own research unit Sky IQ suggests.

The results reveal that brands today use six channels for marketing on average, with half of the respondents using seven or more.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Internet came as the top choice for branding, with over three-quarters of the brands advertising online, followed by print ads (more than 70%), direct mail (61%) and exhibitions and conferences, both employed by 56% of respondents.

The other channels for marketing listed in the survey include social media (45%), outdoor advertising (39%), sponsorship (37%) and TV ads (36%).

However, almost nine out of ten marketers could not determine which channel influenced sales and which proved not as profitable as others. Still, 97% of marketers agreed that measuring how marketing affects sales is important.

Overall, as many as 95% of the respondents found it difficult to prove ROI, with two-thirds of them citing not possessing the appropriate technology to do that as the main reason. More than half of the marketers rely on tracking digital behaviour and qualitative research to gain insight into how individual channels work.

This is particularly poignant at a time when social media is receiving such heavy investment, but not able to demonstrate tangible return. This also begs the question, should all brands become response brands, and plan their campaigns around business KPI’s?