However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. — Winston Churchill

An annual marketing survey released by Alterian in February found that a startling majority of marketers fail to implement analytics to measure the success of their efforts. Only 47% of the 1500 marketers, agencies, marketing services providers and systems integrators polled asserted the use of analytics in their campaigns.

Most alarming, however, is the attribution of this statistic to the fact that marketers found analytics “difficult.”

Churchill had it right, but it seems some marketers have taken him too literally. “Occasionally” is not the operative word; it is of course intended for ironic effect. Measurement — regardless of how we may define success for a given initiative — is the only way we as marketers know if our strategy was sound. And it is one of the key inputs in defining and optimizing the strategy the next time around.

(Image credit: Alterian.com)