The saying "you can't manage what you don't measure" has never been more applicable to marketing organizations as it is today. As marketers are struggling to justify budget dollars day in and day out, they are realizing that effective organizational measures are essential. Cross-organizational measurements need to bring transparency to the operational benefactors of good marketing programs. Marketers around the world agree that it is important to get the full picture when evaluating marketing success.

It is easy to track page visits, page views, and click-throughs using a personalized URL. When marketers were asked in a 2010 survey from Web analytics service Omniture which analytics would give them the most actionable insights, however, the priorities were marketing cost, orders, average order size, and conversion rates. The challenge is that these are the hardest to measure. Regardless of media type, the biggest challenge for marketers is talent. The marketers surveyed indicated (1) that they did not have staff with the necessary experience or expertise to get the most out of the available data and (2) that they had an inadequate budget to hire the talent that is needed.

The recent CMO Council Marketing Outlook reinforced this message, reporting that marketing is no longer art, intuition, or a "gut feel." Rather, marketing is a rigorous discipline that will continue to evolve in the face of new media alternatives. In this new era, marketers are placing emphasis on developing a deep understanding of the specific tactics that drive measurable business results.