Measurement

A formula to tell if your idea is good: for Engineers & logical thinkers.

Is your idea good?  This comes up in a ton of contexts, from entrepreneurship and startups to brainstorms and even into big companies and small projects.   Even if you are just coding up something, you are usually working from an idea.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know if your idea is good, perhaps even BEFORE you’ve tried it?

The following logical flowchart is designed with that in mind.  Enjoy!

Step 1: Do you think your idea is good?
IF YES: Proceed to next step.
IF NO: STOP!  BAD IDEA!

Step 2: Do others think your idea is good?
IF YES: Proceed to next step.
IF NOT: STOP!  MEET with those others and talk through what’s not good about it, improve it, then go back to Step 1!

Step 3: Will your idea take less than 1 day to build and test?
IF YES:  GOOD IDEA!  Build and test it!   It’s almost always worth it to test an idea you think is good, and get the results of the test.
IF NO: Proceed to next step.

Step 4: Can you build a “fake version” of your idea in less than 1 day and test it?
IF YES:  GOOD IDEA!  Build and test it!   It’s almost always worth it to test an idea you think is good, and get the results of the test.
IF NO: Proceed to next step.

Step 5: Can you build a “REAL or fake version” of your idea in less than 1 day and then test it in less than 1 week?
IF YES:  GOOD IDEA!  Build and test it!   It’s almost always worth it to test an idea you think is good, and get the results of the test.  Sometimes the testing takes longer (like an A/B experiment requires time to gather data).  Still, worth it!
IF NO: Proceed.
Step 5: Is there a way to measure if your idea is good?
IF YES:  Proceed.
IF NO: Rethink the idea to include a way to measure if it’s good or not, then go to Step 1.

Step 6: Work hard to see if you can build it faster in a way that can get you ‘measurable results’ if your idea is good or not….   and then build it and measure it.

That’s it!

I know maybe you were thinking there is some algorithm to “actually” tell you if your idea is good or not… newsflash, it cannot exist.  What can exist though is a new kind of thinking: think measurement first!  If you can’t tell if your idea is good or not (by some measure) then why even ask the question?

No go out there and Measure!

Proof that Marketing needs an engineering REMAKE! Only 25% of Marketers add measurable value.

This survey, while not perfect, highlights the need for a Marketing Revival.  We need to apply engineering and science to marketing, or this number (only 25% of Marketers add measurable value to organizations), will get worse and worse.  What exactly do I mean?

I mean this: imagine an engineer who “adds not measurable value to an organization”…. while technically possible, it certainly ought to be quite rare!  Why?  Because an engineer KNOWS that what he works on does X for the company: creates a new product.  improves the quality of a product. etc…   And they know X numbers of product, or Y% of quality improvement.
Now, what about a marketer?  If you write a report, does it add value?  If you “make an ad” does it add value?  If you build a website, does it add value?  If you write Facebook posts, do they add value?  If you write a blog post, does it add value?  If you organize an event, does it add value?  If you manage a print ad, did it create value?  Did the brand you invented add value?  WOW.  If you say no to any of those… you are in trouble.  But the hard part is “how much value did you add?”.
Here is the beginnings of how to measure Marketing Value:
  1. First, establish the fact that eyeballs have a value.  (call it $0.001 or something).
  2. Establish the fact that an Email or Like/Follow has a value (call it $0.10 or something).
  3. Establish the fact that an “engagement (comment, review, etc)” has a value (call it $0.25 or something).
  4. Establish the fact that a “sale” has a value.
  5. Establish the fact that market data (if used) and brand creation (if used) adds product value.. how much?  Call it 10%.
  6. Establish the fact that we CAN measure the above (except for #5).
  7. Now, focus on 1-4.. measure, and see if the values need adjustment.
    1. IF YOU DON’T DO WORK in 1-4… you are not adding measurable value.
    2. Go do 1-4.
  8. Meanwhile, consider #5… how can you measure that?  (I’m still thinking about it; but the answer lies somewhere in the “Price” of your products relative to competition).
Now, Marketers.  GET OUT THERE AND MEASURE!  Don’t be a “no value added” employee.

Video: Engineers Make Better Business People, because they MEASURE!

I have a strong core belief that (if they wanted to) Engineers (and other mathematically trained professionals) would make better business people than “business graduates” or MBAs.  An Engineer-MBA is the best combination, because they learn the MBA lingo, but not the bad habits.

Watch the video to see WHY I think Engineers make better business people, and what you can do about it.

Measuring is different than Succeeding

Many marketing executives believe in measuring effectiveness.  From Google Analytics to Conversion Tracking to “Share of Voice”, the importance of measurements is growing rapidly.  In order to succeed though, we marketers have to actually do something with the data.  Make more rational decisions.  Invest more deeply in the  things that work.  Why would any rational person want to invest in something they know doesn’t work?  And without measurement, why would any rational person invest in something they don’t know if it works or not?