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Improving Marketing Effectiveness

By Robert Shaw
Published by Profile Books Ltd. (The Economist Books)

Five years have passed since author Robert Shaw first published Improving Marketing Effectiveness, in which he observes that marketing is experiencing a "mid-life crisis" of being neither purely tactical nor purely strategic, and unhappy in the middle.

From his perspective as an academic and consultant to captains of industry, Shaw argues that it is time for "fresh thinking" and examines reasons why marketing is in a state of flux. In Part 1 of the three-part book, he debunks the overuse of popular marketing buzzwords like innovation, value, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. He also examines the clash between IT and marketing departments, noting, "IT can be a powerful aid to market research, but it also has enormous power to damage customer relations ..."

In Part 2, Shaw assesses the pros and cons of various marketing measurement frameworks, and recommends ways to ensure that marketing efforts are tied directly to broader business strategy. Part 3 then concludes with an examination of 20 techniques that marketers can apply to perform better measurement analysis.

Throughout the book, Shaw offers constructive advice to improve marketing's effectiveness and achieve better — and more measurable — results. It's a practical and provocative look at marketing that will stimulate your thinking — a must-read for senior marketers, as relevant today as it was foresighted several years ago.

Read our interview with Robert Shaw.