By Will Burghes, Head of Professional Services, DV Rockerbox
As we discussed in a previous blog, building a measurement strategy is a crucial first step to proving the value of your marketing efforts. But once you’ve done that, your job isn’t over. In my role at DV Rockerbox™, I see even seasoned marketers create a strategy once and never revisit it, even as their marketing goals change and grow.
Don’t fall into that money pit.
You’ve already invested time and resources. Now make sure your strategy is set up to adapt over time. Use this guide to sidestep costly mistakes; your future self (and your CFO) will thank you for it.
Don’t treat every channel the same. There’s no silver bullet for measurement. Streaming TV and search behave differently, for example, so measure them separately. The strongest strategies use the right technique for each channel and unify the results into a single set of KPIs.
Don’t try to solve everything at once. We often see teams eager to implement marketing mix modeling (MMM), incrementality testing and multi-touch attribution (MTA) simultaneously. But taking on too much means risking failure on every front. Bring on one tool at a time, and do it right.
Don’t measure for measurement’s sake. Always ask: what decision will this data inform? Begin with the outcome in mind, then work backward to your measurement plan.
Don’t get stuck on a static roadmap. A measurement strategy that works for a modest media spend and a simple channel mix will fall apart as budgets fluctuate and your customer journey becomes complex. As you learn about your tools, costs and timelines, your measurement needs will naturally shift. Stay ready to adapt.
Don’t only measure what’s easy. It’s tempting to only measure channels that are easy to track, such as click-based search advertising. But doing so will inevitably deliver limited insights. You may not be able to understand the impact of the bigger, more important, harder-to-measure channels in your marketing mix, like CTV.
Be ambitious, but stay grounded. It’s tempting to try everything at once and chase every new measurement solution, but you need to align your ambitions with your team’s bandwidth and your analytics budget. Timing is key: invest in the right measurement tools when you’re ready to use them, but don’t wait so long that you lose visibility as you scale.
Treat your roadmap as a living document. Keep it flexible so it can evolve as your business priorities and the marketing landscape shift.
Plan around your tentpole moments. Coordinate with tech and procurement teams to understand implementation cycles, partner selection and onboarding timelines, especially around code freezes or major promotions when you don’t want to disrupt critical systems.
DV Rockerbox provides unified measurement products, including MMA, MMM, incrementality testing and lift analysis, all designed to work together.
Contact a DV Rockerbox representative to learn how we can support your measurement strategy.