The marketing industry has for decades relied largely on instinct to determine the attitudinal KPIs to measure the success of brand-building campaigns. In recent years, though, there has been a concerted push for KPIs that have a proven relationship to financial outcomes. This shift is a great thing for the industry. It makes marketers far more credible in the boardroom, and crucially improves the probability of generating positive financial returns on marketing investment.
However, the drive for evidence-based KPIs risks pushing marketers towards activity with ROI that is easiest to demonstrate, as opposed to activity with the greatest ROI. This...