You’ve probably watched enough “Law and Order” episodes to be familiar with the phrase, “follow the money.” Usually the prosecutor is telling the detectives or a forensic accountant to “follow the money.”

The same is true for smart CMOs.

Right now, we’re being bombarded daily with talk of “Big Data.”

And, while it’s easy (and often more convenient) to look at myriad data points on impressions, circulation, visits, postcards dropped, day parts, opens and other metrics, they are only leading indicators of the real question. “How much money did we generate?”

So, in the spirit of April. Don’t be fooled. Focus on ROI.