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Optimizing the Marketing Mix |
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Dear Lee, Marketing has always been part art and part science. Successful companies bias the mix towards science, and in our work we measure, evaluate and test at every opportunity. We recently attended the February Marketing Roundtable breakfast forum where a panel of marketing experts discussed the science of marketing, and we thought it would be useful to share our findings with you. Return on Marketing: Optimizing the Marketing Mix
The panel of experts represented a broad range of marketing disciplines,
including PR, advertising, online marketing, telesales and marketing
metrics. Each panelist discussed the benefits of specific types of marketing
activities, and with encouragement from moderator Dan Cerutti, all were
forthcoming in admitting not every marketing program is right for every
company. All agreed that where money has been wasted in the past, tight
budgets now demand that everything be measured and every program must prove
its short-term return.
The panelists agreed that no single "silver bullet" exists in marketing, and each explored the benefits of their discipline. Bill McLaughlin advised the audience to be realistic about PR, that great results may take sustained effort. Steve Gross noted that while consumers spend 11% of their media time online digital media only gets 2% of marketer's budgets. Chris Colbert focused on using advertising to communicate the "one simple thing". And Bob Good stressed the importance of the right mix of all media and methods. The morning ended with Rich Vancil of IDC reporting preliminary results of IDC marketing trends research, which warns that marketers are not prepared for the management environment created in the recent downturn, and marketing has not developed consistent ROI measures acceptable to the CEO and investors. Our takeaway - Marketers must continue to hone the craft of
marketing, adding more science and measurement to the mix, and above all, to
remain unbiased as to the specific discipline used to acquire customers.
We've seen too many companies disappointed by their investment in public
relations...when their primary message was not fully developed and they
didn't have a clear picture or their target market, or others disappointed
by telesales or direct marketing...when they didn't have the internal
resources to follow up on the initial lead. Browse our articles on effective marketing...
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