SAP Hybris CMO, Jamie Anderson on justifying marketing budgets and preparing for the digital transformation

Author: Benjamin Cher / Source: The Drum

Data is the lifeblood of any company, and as modern marketers bury themselves in spreadsheets rather than Mad Men style cocktails, the reliance on data to glean insights is here to stay.

Leveraging data thus allows SAP Hybris chief marketing officer, Jamie Anderson, to drill down into the little details for every campaign, bringing into the light previously unknown areas.

“We use the intelligence from that [data] to make adjustment to campaigns all the time. I can see every campaign that we run globally, then I can click down and see the impact of every campaign and see if it is meeting requirements. I can also ask my team about the variances that arise,” said Anderson.

“The great thing about the level of insight we do, it forces you to think at a rigour and frequency you wouldn’t normally. If you think about it how’d we used to get reports, it’ll be monthly rollouts and it’ll be meaningless, because if you look at things like click through rates and open rates, who cares? Where’s the action at the end of it?” he added.

These sentiments were also echoed at a panel discussion on programmatic.

Now Anderson tracks the marketing cycle from demand to revenue, how much was spent on a campaign, the demand captured, converted into a lead or opportunity and long it took to convert it. This ability to measure everything is helping the marketing team justify decisions and costs to the other departments

“We measure everything so it’s important to show our executives and our peers that the money we’re spending has an impact. The value of intelligence we are getting means we can adjust and move faster,” said Anderson.

While B2B technology brands might get the schtick for not being as “sexy” as B2C brands, Anderson believes that there’s a bigger consolation in how B2B brands leverage technology to track returns.

“I still hear real horror stories in the B2C world, I was with a customer, who explained to me that globally they had 60 digital agencies they work with and they spend over €100m on digital advertising, they don’t know what their return is on it,” said Anderson.

“I’ve got a significantly smaller budget than that, but I know the return on practically every dollar I spend. Marketers are going to be pushed more and more on why they are doing that,” he added.

Illustrating with the example of a Google search, Anderson noted that…

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