As the marketing enterprise becomes more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage, especially those organizations that have relied exclusively on traditional “right” brain (qualitative) approaches. A qualitative approach is no longer adequate in today’s ultra-competitive environment. However, when combined with a balancing and progressive “left” brain discipline (quantitative), dramatic improvements to marketing objectives can be achieved.
Marketing today is about information. Information about markets, information about prospects and customers, information about media, information about channels, information about behaviors, information about value (current and future) and, most importantly, information about return on marketing investment. It’s imperative that marketers have a framework for making sense out of all the information and connecting it directly to business results.
http://www.dmnews.com/pdffiles/merklequantitative.pdf
