Marketers who invest more than 10 per cent on measurement and analytics are three times as likely to exceed their growth plan by over 25 per cent, according to a study from information services provider Neustar.

The study, of over 800 chief marketing officers (CMOs), found that these high performing marketers have 27 per cent larger internal staffs dedicated to measurement. This was found to lead to 7.5 per cent better business growth outcomes versus average performers.

“Sophisticated marketing mix and attribution models are increasingly important because they connect the dots across data sources and go deeper into the granular data to find insights about how and where to improve business outcomes,” said Alan Gelman, former Esurance CMO and Credible CMO, who was interviewed for the research. “These tools are becoming essential because the right answer to the growth investment question now involves aggregating information from many parts of the organization, many channels and systems.”

In addition, CMOs ranked social media as the most effective media investment, rating it as the top driver for brand awareness ahead of digital and traditional advertising, and search. High performing organisations using attribution models to maximise and unlock the value of social media were found to be 10 per cent more effective at using social to drive brand awareness, nine per cent more effective at generating engagement, and over nine per cent more effective at obtaining responses from prospective customers.

The infographic below takes a closer look at these findings, as well as looking at the resources high performing marketers rely on, data-driven marketing, and more.