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Robert Shwetz
If the often repeated adage by the creator of the American department store
Wannamaker is true, that 50% of my advertising spend is wasted, then over $4
billion is wasted in the Australian media marketplace, based on an annual spend of
over $8 billion.1 Most organisations focus on the implementation side of marketing
communications, with the majority of budgets going towards media and creative.
Demands are now being placed on Marketers to be more accountable, and deliver a
quantified number as to the return they are generating for what may be one of the
largest line item expenditures for an organisation. Added to this a much more
complex environment has been created with a highly fragmented marketplace,
multiple channels, brands and customer touchpoints, along with consumer cynicism
about advertising.
With this myriad of marketplace variables, plus intangible brand variables, models
for marketing ROI can only be very subjective. These models can also be
constructed to place the expenditure and the return generated in the most positive
of light, building a case for additional funds. However, often it is not additional
funds that are required, but a greater effectiveness and efficiency with which the
current funds are being allocated.
1
AFR, April, 2004
2
Not all marketing dollars are created equal, and the greatest challenge of today’s
marketer is to drive efficiencies and generate greater effectiveness with their
current allocation.
As a result, the most progressive Marketers are ripping apart the marketing value
chain, and re-examining the traditional marketing model. The new focus is on
precision, and as a result rapidly moving budget allocations to the segments of the
chain that are delivering the greatest business value – both strategy and
measurement.
3
Here are six key areas in which you can achieve greater efficiencies throughout the
value chain, including strategy and measurement, to deliver an immediate impact
which ensures your marketing budget is much more effective.
Developing a clear and meaningful focus for any marketing team ensures less
expenditure ‘wastage’ and greater precision in execution. Clearly this focus must
centre around what will deliver towards the bottom line – a clear understanding of
the consumer needs, behaviours, attitudes, and a prioritisation of these target
groups. More often than not, internal agendas begin to cloud this focus with
operations, finance, and other non-consumer focused silos driving what should be
delivered to the market. The consumer ‘bullseye’ must be generated, and provide
the strategic foundation for the marketing team, and be advocated throughout the
organisation.
Questions to ask and issues to raise when creating a greater focus for your
marketing team:
Improved efficiency in these planning processes and the systems to support will
maximise all resources, minimise wasted time and money, and provide a clear and
focused direction.
Resource allocation need not be a guessing game. Business goals and objectives
based on a strategy developed through robust qualitative and quantitative analysis
should be the key driver to allocate these resources: financial, human and time.
This driver should provide the focus of allocation – where and how do we get the
biggest bang for our buck?
6
Questions and issues to raise when allocating resources:
All strategic partners, from R&D to communications and promotional, should be well
versed in the goals and objectives of your business, and be able to translate these
into pragmatic and measurable action plans. A partnership philosophy based on
transparency and strict corporate governance, while ensuring fair and equitable
profits balanced with performance and the systems to monitor these will provide the
foundation for a win-win relationship.
7
Questions and issues to raise when seeking to optimise the relationship:
V. Executional Efficiencies
Have you ever gone through an audit to collect all printed collateral and estimated
the waste in replicating production processes? Often, with the left hand not
speaking to the right, a multitude of duplication occurs, and in some organisations,
this represents the quickest win in terms of cost reduction, while also increasing
efficiency. A communication and promotional audit can quickly gather
requirements from all stakeholders, and develop a standardised set of tools and
frameworks. With the goal of reducing duplication and increasing time to market,
this promotional knowledge management system can quickly enable all sales and
marketing teams.
Do standardised templates exist for all collateral, and are these templates
being utilised?
What proportion of our budget is production versus media versus strategy?
8
How are ad hoc communications managed, and what work flow is in place
to ensure efficiency?
Do our strategic partners work with us to streamline production processes,
even down to paper size and colour use?
This is possibly the most challenging exercise in the marketing value chain, as the
results are so often subjective and no industry accepted measurement model
exists. Models must be tailored, as measurement metrics and benchmarking
standards are category and industry specific. This resulting dashboard, which
should have a balance of fiscal and ‘soft’ measurements, will close an ongoing loop
to feed back into planning processes. Or in highly competitive environments such
as Telcos, provide intelligence to make immediate and swift decisions.
Robert Shwetz
Principal
BBDO Consulting
Tel: +61 3 8601 1161
M: +61 (0) 400 509 667
robert.shwetz@bbdo-consulting.com.au
www.bbdo-consulting.com.au