In his latest work, S.C. Johnson & Sons Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Philip Kotler has introduced two new key performance indicators for digital marketing.

Fully aware that the main potential of social media lies in creating awareness and advocacy, rather than generating direct sales, in “Marketing 4.0”, Philip Kotler says that “two metrics are valuable to measure: the purchase action ratio (PAR) and brand advocacy ratio (BAR). PAR measures how well companies ‘convert’ brand awareness into brand purchase. BAR measures how effectively companies ‘convert’ brand awareness into brand advocacy.” This line of thinking is consistent with the principle that, in today’s hyperconnected world, customers own the brand and their reviews can decide the success or failure of a product.

One of Kotler’s key messages is that traditional and digital marketing principles must blend together in order to deliver the message to our target audience successfully. “If you focus only on your expertise in digital, you might come across as dismissive of management’s prior accomplishments. Play it carefully. As a young marketer, recognize your digital skills will be valuable and recognize you want to be balanced. If you focus too heavily on digital, you might end up being a specialist and never being the CMO”, Kotler says.