Marketing officers spend most of their budgets for TV or print campaigns. Only a fraction goes online in Finland. Good customer experiences cross channels are very rare. Survey says that top management doesn't know how the marketing communication, or should I say customer dialogue, should and could be measured.
I warmly welcome the upcoming downturn. In some cases it means that budgets are decreasing. In many cases it means that companies want to know what is the return for euros invested. Wise people are willing to learn how to measure and optimize customer behaviour across channels.
I can assure you that it's not an easy task. Measuring only one channel or the last click doesn't make you happy yet. It's a start but it doesn't give you the big picture. If your main key performance indicator is click through rate, then you know you got it all wrong.
Be brave, be creative! Design your cross channel campaigns with the best possible outcomes in mind. Create a smooth user experience towards the goal. Test different messages, channels and call to actions constantly. Step out from your comfort zone where you have done things the same way many times before.
Next time when you are ready to spend some money stop for a while. Make sure you have the right people for measuring and analyzing from the start. I bet it's worthwhile to move some money from advertising to analyzing. Please care about the return for your company whatever your goals may be. When you have clear goals, then it's easy to define the right metrics.