Managing expectations
I’m also pretty sure that you didn’t tell the assistant that you’d seen their ad at half time during Corrie and felt an irresistible urge to come in and make the purchase concerned. In not doing so, you are not helping the retailer in quantifying the efficacy of their marketing. All they know, in this case, is that the marketing worked.
You are involved in business and have an interest in marketing (if not, why are you reading this?), and so logically will be caught on the horns of the same dilemma; how effective is my marketing?
Mea Culpa; in the past, I have been guilty of not helping my clients to manage their expectations. Because of that, we have been in the most frustrating of situations where the client has stated that not one of the marketing initiatives has been seen to generate any feedback, so can no longer justify the marketing spend. But it’s not so bad, since the order book is full. And that really is the point.
Forgive me for repeating myself from a previous piece, but if I could tell any client that if they were to embark upon marketing activity A,B and C they would generate sales of D for a gross profit of E, then I would have sold that formula to corporate America years ago and would have been retired by the beach.
On a cautionary note, digital activity – be it online advertising pay per click, social media, email newsletters or whatever – is far easier to track, and for the marketer, easier to justify the marketing spend. Now while it has its place in many cases, it doesn’t in others. So while the marketer may understandably wish to indulge in a little arse covering, it may not be the most appropriate spend of the budget.
So, business owners, make sure your sales and marketing departments are fully in synch, and rather than trying to nit-pick individual marketing initiatives, look at your order book.