There is extensive literature written about how to calculate Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) and its importance for marketing managers. However, there are not many studies made on how and when Return on Marketing Investment metrics are used in real life and if and how it is used to argue the value of a marketing activity. We have in this study with comparative cases investigated if and how ROMI metrics are used by managers outside the marketing department in their decision-making process. We based our case selection on how well they represented "Mad men to Math men" presented in Gilan and Hammarberg (2016)'s book "Get Digital or Die Trying." Mad men refers to old school "gut feeling" marketing decision making and "Math men" refers to modern digital marketers with decision making based on numbers and statistics. This study is made from the decision makers point of view with the purpose to gain a better understanding of if and how ROMI calculations are used in the decision-making process of senior management outside of the marketing department. This comparative case study consists of eight in-depth interviews, four in each company. The interviewees are all senior management outside of the marketing department. Our findings include that these two companies work very differently in how they make decisions in marketing investments. In Company 1 the marketing budget is decided by senior management outside of the marketing department, and this management may also cut the marketing budget if they see it necessary. In Company 2 the Segment Managers are responsible for the amount of the budget they would like to invest in marketing activities, and therefore they have more incentive to calculate the return of each investment and compare it with the return on other investments available to them. One of the reasons for the different ways of working can be a result of the different responsibility structure over the marketing budget. There is also a difference in how the two companies measure the success of the investment; Company 1 measure success in pure financial return and Company 2 measure success in increased market shares as well as financial return. Company 2 are using ROMI metrics to a greater extent than Company 1, who does not use any ROMI metrics. Marketers can in this study get an idea of how using ROMI metrics can help argue their case for further investments in marketing or cutting the budget for the marketing department. With the use of ROMI metrics, marketers can also evaluate which marketing activities are more efficient and thereby decide if they should continue with these activities or not. This study also shows that there is still, in some companies, a divide and conflict between the finance department and the marketing department. By shifting the responsibility of the marketing budget like in the case of Company 2, the adverse effect of this division on the marketing investments can be reduced. It can also be beneficial for the company to focus more on market shares than on sales and numbers. As digital marketing is growing stronger, the calculations of ROMI will become easier. Keywords: Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI), decision-making process, senior management, marketing department, finance department, ROMI metrics, real-life ROMI, comparative case study, Mad men, Math men

Background: It is proven difficult to provide evidence for the financial benefit of marketing operations within firms and marketing is the last organizational function to achieve an adopted quantitative method to track and measure its effectiveness. As a result, demands for marketing to provide accountability for its inputs toward firm performance have increased over the past decade and there are an increasing amount of methods looking to measure its contributions.   Problem: Small businesses need to invest financial resources in marketing in order to increase their market share and sales. However, marketing’s value to the firm as an organizational function often goes undervalued. Additionally, small businesses commonly lack the marketing experience and knowledge required in order to make more profitable marketing investment decisions.   Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to research how much marketing investment influences the profit/sales effectiveness of small business within the clothing sector in Sweden.   Method: The study was conducted using a quantitative research method, through the analysis of 23 small businesses in clothes retailing industry located in Sweden. The data was collected through the firms’ annual reports and telephone surveys with firm managers. This information was processed using a relevant marketing effectiveness model in combination with regression and correlation analyses. Empirical findings were analyzed using theories relevant to pursuing the purpose.   Conclusion: Based on the findings the study concludes that there is evidence for a positive relationship between a firm's marketing investments and sales, as well as between the effectiveness of its marketing activities and it’s incremental revenue. This provides evidence for marketing investments contributing to the economic effectiveness of the firm and that the firms marketing effectiveness contributes to overall financial growth

Darbe yra analizuojamas marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimas. Dėl sparčiai besikeičiančios aplinkos ir didėjančios konkurencijos įmonėms yra ypač svarbu vykdyti naudingas ir efektyvias strategijas, didinti visos įmonės vertę, tačiau didžiausia problema yra atsirinkti, ką vertinti ir kaip vertinti. Darbo tikslas - remiantis moksliniais marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimo šaltiniais, atvejo analizės gautais rezultatais, pateikti bendrą marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimo ir atskirų marketingo kampanijų efektyvumo vertinimo modelius. Magistrinio baigiamąjį darbą sudaro trys pagrindinės dalys. Teorinėje, pirmojoje, darbo dalyje yra analizuojami, aptariami, palyginami skirtingų autorių požiūriai į marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimą bei, pagal mokslininkų atliktus tyrimus, pateikiami būdai ir rodikliai marketingo veiklos efektyvumui įvertinti. Analitinėje baigiamojo darbo dalyje atvejo analizės ir ekspertinio interviu metodais yra analizuojamas Lietuvoje vykstančio rinkodaros pasiekimų konkurso „Password 2011” marketingo kampanijų efektyvumo vertinimas. Trečiojoje dalyje yra pateikiami marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimo modeliai, kurie padėtų rezultatyviai įvertinti atskiras marketingo veiklas. / The paper analyzes the marketing performance evaluation. As environment is rapidly changing and competitiveness of enterprises is increasing, it is very important to develop useful and effective strategies to increase the total value of the company, but the biggest problem is to select what to measure and how to measure. The objective of this paper is to present general model of marketing activities effectiveness measurement and models of individual marketing campaigns effectiveness assessment based on scientific resources of marketing effectiveness assessment and results of case analysis. The theoretical, first, part of the work introduces analysis, comparison of different authors approaches to the marketing activities performance evaluation by finding out methods and indicators, which assess the effectiveness of marketing activities. The analytical part is based on case study and interview of expert which analyzes marketing campaign efficiency of Lithuanian’s marketing competition "Password 2011". The third part is intended for the marketing performance evaluation models, which show the most useful stages to evaluate main marketing activities.