A Marketing Assessment Model is an integral marketing process as it assists in determining whether or not goals are being met. Assessments should be used to affect decisions about goals, staffing, budgets, systems, processes and advancement, among other things. In short, an assessment should be performed as a first step to establish a baseline and subsequently to objectively and quantitatively determine whether expectations were met, exceeded or missed.
Benefits of Incorporating a Marketing Assessment as a Standard Marketing Process
Formalized approach to ranking and prioritizing investment opportunities- Consistent and objective method to set goals and objectives
- Quantitative procedure to evaluate progress
- Systemic rating system to provide diagnostic feedback about individuals, processes and or systems
The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) was created by organizations that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense. The CMM provides quantitative measurements of formality and optimization on a spectrum ranging from ad-hoc to optimized. While the model was developed to improve software development processes, the framework can be applied to almost any marketing process. A maturity model can be viewed as a set of structured levels that describe how well the behaviors, practices and processes of an organization can reliably and sustainably produce required outcomes.
Marketing Assessment Model Structure
Core to the Marketing Assessment model are states or stages that describe how reliable and frequently the actions, practices and processes employed generate the desired outcomes. A by-product of this marketing process is that it provides a common language, framework and ranking methodology. The five stages or states of the model include:
Level 1 – Ad hoc: processes at this level are typically undocumented (in someone’s head) and are continuously changing (by varying degrees).
Level 2 – Repeatable: as the name suggests, repeatable processes imply that processes can be repeated and possibly produce similar results.
Level 3 – Defined: defined processes are standard processes—they have been defined and documented.
Level 4 – Managed: managed processes take defined processes to the next level by incorporating process metrics for the tracking, monitoring and effective management of processes.
Level 5 – Optimized: embodies conscious, deliberate, calculated process improvements through both incremental and innovative technological improvements.
Each discipline (a cluster of related activities that when performed together, achieve a set of goals considered important) should be included in the assessment. Also, the relevant level of sub-detail should be documented as a separate row in an Excel spreadsheet. Each row should then be evaluated against:
- Current State: a level or ranking between 1 and 5 (5 is optimized) that describes the state of this attribute today.
- Desired State: the level or ranking that best describes the stage or state that the organization would like to move the process to.
- Gap: the delta between the Desired State and Current State.
- Dependencies: the high level actions required to move from Current to Desired State.
- Investment: summarizes both the personnel and money required to facilitate the movement.
In order for Marketing to continuously provide value to the organization, it is imperative to constantly adopt and adapt marketing processes to improve people, processes, systems, execution, strategy and vision. A logical and fundamentally solid approach to improvement requires determining where an organization is and where an organization wants to be. The crux of this approach is dependent upon defining Point A plus the specific incremental improvements necessary to raise the bar and the Marketing Assessment Model is very well suited for this task.
Download a Marketing Assessment Model today to improve Marketing’s ability to execute and enhance its relevance to the organization.
Read more: 7 Steps Involved In A Successful Marketing Process