Why should you update your MMM model? and How often should you update them?

As MMM is gaining acceptance in newer domains, most prospective clients ask the following questions.

▪ Why should we update MMM models?
▪ How often should we update them?

📌 Why should you update MMM model?

To explain this, I normally use the analogy of movie making.

A movie is a series of snapshots put together.

A MMM model or for that matter any model is a snapshot of reality.

The problem is, a snapshot can tell you only so much. More specifically it can only tell you about the things that took place at the time of taking the snapshot.

Market reality is very dynamic. Things evolve constantly.

– Your marketing spends does not remain static.
– Its effect on the KPI does not remain static.
– Your competitors are not static.

Hence it just makes sense to get frequent updates about the reality.

How does one get that?
Well, through updating models frequently.

Just like a series of snapshots is put together to make a movie, a series of model updates gives you the ‘motion picture’ of your market.

So don’t be satisfied with just a snapshot (no matter how beautiful). What you need is a motion picture.

📌 How often should you update MMM models?

Again building up on the above analogy, one could think about cadence of model update as pressing the ‘2x or 4x speed’ button. Certain domains move at 2x and certain domains move at 4x speed.

The cadence of update at the end of the day depends on your advertisement efforts. If you are launching short term digital campaigns, it makes sense to update weekly.
But if you advertise on channels like TV and launch more brand building campaigns, it makes sense to update monthly/quarterly.

Have more doubts about MMM? Check out our detailed FAQs in the resources section.