A strategy is of itself a hypothesis. Something that is proved true or false over time.  For more on this, read one of my most popular blogs here: A strategy is but a hypothesis.

In proving your hypothesis, you eventually find out if you are spending on a failed strategy or if you are investing in a successful one.

The key to shifting from spending to investing is to set up your strategy, from the start, so you can measure your spend and your return on your investment each step of the way. This allows you to make early calls to either adjust a strategy or to double down because your investment is proving so effective.

To set your strategy up for success you need early indicators of your progress. It’s all too common for a strategy to fail because the world changed during implementation and you did not.

Establishing your measurement regime is not a big data challenge. It is about knowing the data you need and working out how to obtain it cost effectively.