while I whole heatedly agree with you, you’re railing against majority. The advertising industry has been conducting a converted effort over the past few years to try and move online advertising metrics away from sales or conversion. They argue that “engagement” and other fluffy metrics are far better. (Ugh!)

Also, social media guru’s have also been extremely vocal in saying that social media success should not be tied to ROI. ??#$%^ Go figure.

Plus I read somewhere recently that 80% of marketing isn’t designed to sell anything.

The Old Spice Guy campaign was deemed a success because so many people saw it. The fact that it didn’t increase revenue and profit is always shouted down whenever anyone points it out.

So it’s no surprise CEO’s feel the way that they do about marketers.

What’s more the feeling is not confined to the online industry, marketing and adverting have been like this for decades.

Claude Hopkins told us how to get scientific about it almost a century ago. Nobody listened, or not many.

David Ogilvy said he thought direct response would come to dominate marketing because they knew how to measure and improve everything. Nobody listened, well maybe just a tiny few.

If the industry hasn’t listened or learned from them, it’s unlikely most of them will learn or listen to anyone else – ever.

While there will always be a handful of us who “get it” about the need for bankable metrics, unfortunately the majority just don’t want to be held that accountable.

But that could just be human nature. (ha).