The Two Worlds of Online and Offline Measurement - Bridging the Gap

Part 2 of a multi-part series on how analytics will change marketing and business.

Offline activities have always influenced online behaviors, and vice versa - but until now most companies acted as if they were two separate, independent universes. Online marketing and offline marketing efforts were managed and measured separately. And due to all the hype around social media, in many cases marketers give social media either too much or too little credit for sales.

Now, finally, we're beginning to measure these as one.

Super Bowl: Smart Marketers Go Deep - and Score - with Granular Data

Part 1 of a multi-part series on how analytics will change marketing and business.

Super Bowl marketers spent an average of $3.5 million for each flashy 30-second TV commercial this year in hopes of generating brand buzz and driving sales. But just how many consumers will brands really reach as we move further away from the "big game"? How many will they convert over to loyal customers?

Ringing in the Recovery? Retail Sales Predictions for 2011

Our MarketShare models consistently show that consumers use queries and the internet to secure brand and product information as part of the purchase funnel. They also show that these queries are very good indicators of relative share and sales revenues.

Below, we’ve pulled query data on six of the top U.S. retailers for 2007-2011, including the holiday period this year so far (12/22).

How Reliable is Past Experience in Planning Future Marketing Spending?

During discussions about budgets and resource allocation, I often hear push-back from line managers of the form: “What we’re planning next year is different from the history you’re looking at, so your results don’t apply,” or “The market environment is different now, so all that history is irrelevant.”  Leaving aside clichés (“those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it”), is there truth in these arguments?