Reallocate your marketing efforts without losing what audiences value most.
The Portfolio Value Matrix shows what each of your marketing and communications programs costs, what it contributes, and how audiences respond, so you can keep, grow, refine or retire each one with confidence.
You’re being asked to do more with less.
Most teams can't say, program by program, what their newsletters, events, publications, webinars and campaigns actually cost, what they contribute, or how audiences respond.
So budget decisions fall back on whatever is easiest to measure, and the programs quietly holding up renewals, leads or loyalty are the ones at risk.
What it really costs. Staff time, shared tools and overhead sit outside the budget line, and they are often most of the bill.
What it contributes. Revenue, retention and new acquisition live in different systems and on different time frames.
How audiences respond. Reach isn't value, but it matters, and it has to be read next to cost and contribution.
You need one comparable scale for every program.
See the whole picture. Every program's fully loaded cost, contribution and audience response on one scale, so you can compare a magazine with a webinar series.
Decide with confidence. Each program gets a clear category and a call, keep, grow, refine or retire, with the evidence behind it and a test of which calls hold up under different assumptions.
Redirect to the next generation. Freed-up effort and budget go to what comes next, with guardrails so the reallocation holds up.
Start with a diagnostic.
A program-by-program review of cost, contribution and audience response
A keep, grow, refine or retire recommendation for each program, with the evidence behind it and how sensitive it is to your assumptions
A leadership-ready readout and a one-page summary
Fixed fee, scoped to the size of your portfolio. Typically, about two months from receiving complete data for smaller portfolios and scoped individually for larger ones.
See how it works on a sample portfolio.
Meridian Professional Society is a fictional organization with about 4,400 members and nine marketing and communications programs. The figures below come from a sample built to show the method.
$2.2 million in fully loaded cost across the nine programs
68% staff time, 20% invoices and ad spend, 12% overhead
Only three out of nine programs earn back their cost
The most-read program returns about 2 cents of attributed value per dollar it costs
Built for organizations that run a diverse portfolio of marketing and communications programs.
Membership associations. See which member benefits drive renewals and which cost more than they return.
Publishers. Weigh newsletters, events, podcasts and subscriptions on one scale.
Marketing and communications teams. Any organization that runs a mix of programs can use it, from webinars and campaigns to publications and social channels.
Agencies. Working with an agency? Let's talk about partnering.
About Us
Joshua Lasky is the founder of Waveform Intelligence. He has 15 years of media and marketing experience across finance, audience research and content strategy, and he built the Portfolio Value Matrix to give marketing and communications leaders a clear, evidence-based way to decide what to keep, grow, refine or retire.
Previously he led the Audience & Insights practice at Revmade. Before that he spent several years at Atlantic Media, working across its brands, including The Atlantic, Government Executive and National Journal, from financial planning and strategy to marketing and analytics.
Frequently Asked Questions
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No. Associations and publishers are a natural fit because their programs often earn revenue and renewals, but the method works for any organization that runs a portfolio of marketing and communications programs.
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Program-level cost data (who works on what, vendor and ad spend), the revenue and renewal or conversion data that show contribution, and one audience measure per program. A short readiness screen shows what you have and what to pull together before we start.
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Typically about two months from receiving complete data for smaller portfolios. Larger ones are scoped individually.
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No. It uses the data you already have, puts it on one scale, and shows where the numbers are solid and where they are estimates.
Let’s have a conversation.
Tell me about your portfolio and we'll see whether a diagnostic fits.
