From 28 to 29 October 2014, marketing executives can take advantage of the Measuring the ROI of corporate online campaigns seminar, organised by IT News Africa and which will be held at The Gordon Institute of Business Science – located in Johannesburg. The seminar has been designed in such a way that it will not only be impactful, but also offer top advice from a multitude of industry leaders who will help you and your company prove the effectiveness of corporate online initiatives.
In today’s extremely busy age, many marketing and communications executives are faced with a variety of burning questions that need to be answered when initiating multiple campaigns. These questions range from: Do you know how to effectively measure the ROI of your online marketing efforts; Can you successfully communicate their value to key stakeholders? To answer these questions, Prof Geoff Bick will be presenting at the seminar.
Prof Geoff Bick joined the GSB in 2012 as Professor of Marketing. He previously held the Coca-Cola Africa Chair of Marketing at Wits Business School, where he was also the Director of Academic Programmes for a few years. He has many years of work experience, first as an engineer, then as a marketing consultant and practitioner for various organisations, including Xerox South Africa prior to joining WBS. He lectures various marketing modules on academic programmes to MBA and other students, as well as on Executive programmes, including the Chartered Marketer workshop. He has won a number of teaching awards, and supervised many students with their research reports.
His focus area is on marketing metrics, measuring the effectiveness of marketing programmes, although he has researched, taught and consulted in a number of different areas of marketing.
Prof Geoff Bick covered the following questions regarding ROI:
1. IT News Africa: Measuring marketing ROI is essentially about gaining knowledge; however, what kind of knowledge will marketing and communications executives receive when successfully measuring the ROI of a recent marketing campaign?
Prof Geoff Bick: The important part of measuring ROI is the contribution to the Accountability of the marketing function, where marketers demonstrate the returns generated from the investment in a marketing campaign.
2. IT News Africa: As a marketer, you can have the best adverts, placed in the best locations on the Internet – but if you do not have the tools to effectively analyse performance they essentially become redundant, what are your thoughts on this statement?
Prof Geoff Bick: The age-old adage is that half of the advertising is wasted, but you cannot determine which half. Marketers are under pressure to do more with less, so if your communication is not very focused on meeting the needs of the target market, then your investment is wasted. It is important to close the loop by determining the effectiveness of your marketing investments.
3. IT News Africa: What will attendees at the event take away from the even?
Prof Geoff Bick: Attendees will understand:
– The importance of intangible assets, and the role of metrics in building these
– Tools for measuring the contributions of marketing investments
– Analytical methods to calculate results and ROI
4. IT News Africa: Why should marketing professionals attend the seminar?
Prof Geoff Bick: My experience is that marketers often revert to their comfort zones, of creative promotions, customer relations, launch events, etc, and shy away from the metrics side of their function. Marketers do not need to be afraid of numbers and metrics, they can make them their friends and use them in their organisations.
5. IT News Africa: What are some of the mistakes that marketing professionals make when attempting to measure ROI of a marketing campaign?
Prof Geoff Bick: Marketing ROI is a badly abused concept, and generally incorrectly calculated, thus not gaining any friends with the accounting fraternity. It is also a difficult concept to measure, unless one is in a direct marketing operation; however, there are tools available to track the impact of marketing investments to report to management, rather than having a phobia about ROI. There is generally no such thing as a ‘silver bullet’.
For more information contact: Zenzele or Philani, zenzele@itnewsafrica.com or philani@itnewsafrica.com
Tel: 
+27 11 026 0982 Fax 0866 130 386 Cell +27 79 182 5084
Alternatively, fill in the form here to reserve your slot. Only 30 slots available
Darryl Linington
