Marketing and the Bottom Line

By Tim Ambler

Book Overview

"The subject is critically important and Ambler's ideas are provocative."
Philip Kotler

" Far and away the best book for a senior manager who is interested in understanding marketing's impact on his or her organization."
Journal of Marketing, January 04

Marketing really isn't different, and it really isn't impossible to measure. It s an investment. Unless you can measure its impact, you're wasting your money.

Select the right metrics for your company and ensure a regular assessment of marketing by top management in order to keep performance on track. Here, for the first time, is a book that explains the "why" as well as the "what" and the "how" of marketing metrics.

How much attention does your board give to the sources of cash flow? Perhaps what gets measured is not always what gets done but it's a start. This book explains the reasons for regular marketing assessment by the whole board, key marketplace metrics, and assessing the firm's state of innovation health. Improved marketing requires employees to change what they do, and the way that they do it. Most companies don't have a clear picture of their marketing performance. Now is the time to see what you are doing. Clarity of goals and assessment of performance separate the professional from the amateur; and only the professionals win. "It is time that marketing stood up and was counted. Literally. This book is the enabler. It's not full of prescriptive rules. Instead it poses questions to ask, suggests possible measurements to make and details experiences from real companies. It does not suffer from consultant speak and is grounded in the reality of the struggle to "make marketing accountable. It is important for the future of marketing."
Market Leader
"A blue print for the marketer to impress his or her boss in how to measure the value of their efforts. Numbers haven't been so much fun for a long time. Buy this book." Brand Republic
"Marketers need to be far more accountable, and this book shows them not just how to provide measures of success but also how to achieve top management consensus about marketing investment. " Ken Bishop, Director of Marketing, IBM UK "This is a succinct, witty and mould-breaking book on a very important topic. It should be read by all senior managers and marketers." Professor Hugh Davidson, Cranfield School of Management

"This book is a big step forward in assessing marketing impact - an area which is short of regular performance management." Sir John Egan, CBI

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0273661949
• ISBN13: 9780273661948
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: FT Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Insightful!

This is a marketing book unlike any other marketing book. It is really written for financial officers. In fact, at one point, author Tim Ambler actually recommends turning responsibility for marketing metrics over to the finance department. That emphasis on a hard-nosed, bottom line orientation is novel and refreshing. Ambler recognizes that one of the biggest problems marketers inflict on themselves is their failure to establish and demonstrate that money spent on marketing really does matter to the financial performance of a business. With comprehensive attention to detail, he is careful to present most of the current thinking on how to measure the value of investments in marketing. Unfortunately, his style is dense, so much of what he says may take non-experts several readings to clarify.We are grateful that his helpful executive summary goes some way toward mitigating this problem and highly recommends his comprehensive and informative material - however, an editor as ruthless as a CFO might benefit the book's own bottom line.

Insightful!

This is a marketing book unlike any other marketing book. It is really written for financial officers. In fact, at one point, author Tim Ambler actually recommends turning responsibility for marketing metrics over to the finance department. That emphasis on a hard-nosed, bottom line orientation is novel and refreshing. Ambler recognizes that one of the biggest problems marketers inflict on themselves is their failure to establish and demonstrate that money spent on marketing really does matter to the financial performance of a business. With comprehensive attention to detail, he is careful to present most of the current thinking on how to measure the value of investments in marketing. Unfortunately, his style is dense, so much of what he says may take non-experts several readings to clarify. We are grateful that his helpful executive summary goes some way toward mitigating this problem and highly recommends his comprehensive and informative material - however, an editor as ruthless as a CFO might benefit the book's own bottom line.

Marketing and the Bottom Line

This is a terrific book that helps quantify the value of marketing in a company's overall operations. Finance and accounting have long enjoyed attention because of the quantifiable nature of the data provided; Ambler gives us a start on the same level of verifiability in the marketing realm.

Finally a guide to measuring marketing effectiveness

Bravo! This is a well-written and informative book that provides the tools to measure marketing effectiveness and hold marketers accountable. Ambler provides diagnostic questions, real company examples and implementation plans, which help the reader translate theory into practice. It is this focus on practical implementation that I found particularly valuable and makes this book stand out from the other business texts. In addition, Ambler's style is to simplify and clarify a lot of the marketing jargon which makes it relevant to a broad base of readers while still remaining substantial enough to the most skilled marketers. A must-read for board members, management and marketers.