Create Your Measurement Plan

About the Project:
The purpose of this exercise is to create a plan for measuring the success of your marketing efforts.
Project Overview
This week, you will prepare a measurement plan to share with your executive team for launching your influencer outreach plan or your brand ambassador program. This measurement plan is what you will use to “sell” the executive team on embracing your plan, the overarching concept and the specific steps necessary to make it happen.

Narrative / Storytelling / Explanation of Program

The key to measuring the return on your marketing investment is planning. Begin with the end in mind. Having established your marketing goals at the beginning of this course, you know what you hope to accomplish (e.g. a specific percent increase in revenue, decrease in customer service costs or cost per lead, increased brand awareness, improved brand sentiment, etc.), and the time frame in which you hope to meet these objectives.
Think of the broad business goals (formatted as SMART goals: Specific, Measureable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely). For example, “increase online sales by 15% in 12 months.” Then, work backward: how will this program help you reach that goal? Always keep that end goal in mind, because it influences your thinking at every step of the way.
How is getting 5 comments per blog post going to lead to that 15% increase in sales? How can your fans drive sales? What if you give your Brand Ambassadors coupons so they can hand them to other potential customers? Use a tracking code on those coupons, so we know that Jane Smith had 50 coupons for 10%-off, and 5 of them were redeemed last month. This will demonstrate the ROI of your influencer outreach or brand ambassador program, and track the business impact of the word of mouth marketing that happens when you cultivate these kinds of relationships with brand advocates.
Results and Measurement Components

You will create a measurement plan that includes the elements necessary for you to show that your marketing efforts are effective. It is important to show results and measurements to executive teams and senior marketing folks on your team. Don’t stop at “soft metrics” like blog subscribers, comments, Facebook Likes, and retweets; but rather, employ metrics that tie to actual business goals and results. Some of the tools that can help you track results include:

Short URLs (use a specific short URL for each social network, so you know where clicks came from, and keep those short URLs in your editorial calendar for social posts)
Custom landing pages
Promo codes
Coupon redemption rates
Analytics software options (online)
Consider the SMART goals you have created for the program. What components did you include as measurements for each goal? How can those data points support you in telling the story of campaign success.

Assignment Instructions
In your submission, explain which metrics you recommend tracking and why. For example, “these are the 3 to 5 metrics I’ve chosen; I’m tracking this because it does X, thereby bringing me closer to the end goal, which is a 15% increase in sales.” Remember, just because social metrics are easy to measure, that doesn’t make them the most valuable and meaningful.

Includes the Program Goals for your influencer outreach campaign or brand ambassador program
Sets the timetable you will use to assess the goals
Reiterates the broader business goals that your influencer outreach / brand ambassador program will further
Explains which 3 to 5 metrics you are tracking
Think back to the “M” (measurable) from each of your SMART Goals
Explains why you are tracking each of the specific metrics
Explains how you will track and gather the data for the each metric
Explains how each metric supports a larger business goal
Example: For each metric selected: “I’m tracking this because it does x, thereby brining me closer to the end goal, which is a 15% increase in sales.”
Deliverable
File Submission
A PDF Presentation. If you elect to submit your plan in a Keynote presentation, be sure the slides include the important details, such as your creative concept and your plan for getting your content into the hands of influencers who can help it to catch on. The Keynote file must be converted to a pdf if there is no voice-over element or a .mov file if there is a voice-over element. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT THE RAW KEYNOTE FILE.
A Video File (podcast enhanced with slides). If you submit your plan as an enhanced podcast, include slides that complement the audio/narration. Full credit will not be awarded for an audio file with no visual element, or for podcasts that only use screenshots, with no Keynote slides supporting the narration. Maximum length 10 minutes.
Include responses to all the assignment prompts listed above
Use References
This is a graduate level course and students are expected to integrate research to support their work. Referencing sources and experts in the field, further adds to your credibility as a professional as well. Make sure to use in-text citation and mention references as appropriate throughout your work. Then, make sure to include the reference slide at the end.