ROI – More Sense than Dollars

Author: Hamish Anderson 

As most marketers will know, getting approval to undertake anything marketing related – especially in a tight economy, or where the campaign represents a departure from ‘The norm’ – can be next to impossible. However, it is time that marketers were given licence to perform again, but with redefined principles of success. Furthermore, I believe that online and converged marketing represents an ideal way to allow marketers to achieve this success. I can imagine that when many of you read this you will think I am advocating that it is ok to invest money in online marketing without seeing a return. But I can assure you that is not what I am saying. In fact I am a firm believer in the premise that all online marketing should generate a return on investment. However, it is the measure of what ROI is defined as that I believe needs clarification, especially as regards online marketing.

Re-defining ROI
If you look up marketing text books or do an online search you will find the general definition of ROI expressed as “income produced by an asset divided by its investment cost, expressed as a percentage”. I believe that for the most part this is true, however, there is one word in this definition which I believe needs to be revised – “Income”. Given that today’s marketing medium’s (especially online) allow much more transparent analysis of the effect of certain campaigns, the scope of measured returns should be much broader than the current definition allows. That is right; I am asserting that ROI should not be purely measured by income produced. In defence of my position, let me put this to you: Time is a capital resource – a valuable resource –which is why companies ask employees to keep timesheets. Given it is so valuable, and given we can compute its relative value; should we not also look to measure if an investment has had a positive impact by looking at time based calculations? This is especially important given that some marketing activities have a lag period between implementation and return.

Time Calculations for ROI
Let me give you an example. Let’s assume you undertake to make social media part of your ongoing strategy. This activity takes say, 10 hours aggregate a week. In undertaking this activity, you promote key aspects of the business, and you increase your market awareness. And as a direct result of the activity you increase transactions with the business by ‘x’ amount. This may or may not be enough to alone justify investment into social media going forward. But what if you compare the time spent undertaking social marketing to achieve ‘x’ sales as compared to other traditional marketing forms which generate similar levels of business? Does the time invested by comparison represent an increase in time or a decrease? If it represents a saving, meaning the difference in time can be applied to other activities without increasing costs, effectively increasing your marketing potential, then the return on the initial time investment is indeed worthwhile.

Applying Common Sense
It seems that marketers and finance departments need to sit down and redefine some key principles which affect both internal departments. Both departments are looking to achieve the same goal – company growth and profitability – however, as is the case in too many companies, they cannot reach agreement about how to achieve it in the best way. If marketers and finance teams can sit down and redefine the principles of what constitutes success, and agree that marketing activities are now more than ever able to demonstrate their impact, from both a time and dollar perspective, then perhaps a new era in marketing growth can be achieved. All it is going to take is an understanding that is as much about common sense as it is about dollars as there should be no reason that marketing creativity and fiscal responsibility cannot go hand in hand.

Why an agency can Enhance your Marketing

Hamish Anderson | Sep 14, 2010

At my core I am a marketer. I studied it, and I have worked in it for over 10 years. But more than that, I work in the specialised field of digital marketing as I believe it represents new potential for marketing and that it has the ability to achieve positive ROI and a positive consumer experience as never before. At the heart of it, in my role, I believe I have a few key responsibilities:

• Interpretation of the client brief
• Development of a strategy to enhance their brand online
• Cohesion with offline marketing
• Maximise the impact of the marketing budget
• Delivery of goals such as delivery of positive ROI, increased market share or increased product trial

However, one thing I have noted time and time again is that when it comes to online marketing there isn’t the same adherence to protocol regarding strategy and execution as there is with offline marketing. People feel more comfortable with the idea of ‘giving it a go’, where no one would dream of creating a print or TV ad as a test to mass market.  My belief is that this DIY approach is due to the ease of technology and the ease at which a person can give it a go. The problem with giving it a go is that the test for success is often poorly designed giving a false measure of success or failure.

The truth of it is that digital marketing is not a playground and that reputations can be just as easily created or broken online. Digital marketing requires a different approach to offline marketing and that is where expertise and fresh ideas are a must.

Marketers Unite – We are working together
Brilliant ideas can come from anyone, and everyone’s ideas can be useful in improving processes and or results, but it would be fair to say, that as a general rule, people who specialise in a chosen profession generally have a broader spectrum knowledge and understanding of their field than those who do not. They will understand the repercussions of certain actions and can best choose what course of action to undertake as to achieve the desired results.

For example, you may know that you have a tooth ache and need a filling, but a Dentist will better understand which side of the tooth to drill, whether you need a cap or a filling and how quickly to implement the solution. Similarly, you may tell a mechanic the issue you have with your car – such as the breaks squealing – and that you believe the fuel pump needs cleaning to improve uptake, however, you let the mechanic take a look and come back to you with the best course of action so you get the optimum performance from your car. As long as they give you a detailed assessment of what was required and what they did to rectify the situation, you will generally be happy to let them go about their business.  It is the same with digital marketing.

Allow Your Brand to Perform at its Best
At its heart, it should be noted, that the fundamental principles which apply to successful marketing as a whole, apply to online marketing too: Be consistent, be true to your brand, embrace your audience and don’t over promise and under deliver.

However, with regards online and offline, the delivery vehicles used to achieve success can differ greatly from one medium to the next. As such, this is where the expertise of a digital team is invaluable. As they work with you to understand your requirements, they will be developing strategies which deliver, utilising the right vehicles at the right time, for you and your brand.

Whilst you may believe that utilising Twitter is pivotal to your success, or that an interactive forum on your site is essential, your digital team will balance up your requirements with regards your budget, what will reflect your brand correctly, how much time you have to manage something as time intense as social media and what will connect with your audience in a way which derives positive outcomes (be these positive dollar returns, an increased database, increased product trial etc). At the end of the day, the digital agency exists not only to provide the code base you require for a chosen solution, but more importantly, they exist to provide you the insight to understand how to best connect with your audience in a way which achieves what they the consumer want, not what you want to push at them.

The Role of a Corporate Website

Mark | September 10, 2010

I recently got asked an interesting question by a client, ‘why do I need a corporate website anymore – isn’t a facebook page enough? Can’t I just be like VitaminWater?’ It was good to see a client exploring the landscape, but I was quite surprised that I had to explain that a service based b2b facing business had a different set of challenges to face than a business like VitaminWater and that their brand personalities were different. I guess I can tick that one off my unexpected things to do today list. In the end, I believe a corporate site is important and the right way to go for this client – albeit a corporate site with a difference. Here is a summary of what I said (at least how I should have said it – with a little more preparation ).

…A corporate website has a job to do. Its job is to blend information and personality, and what’s more, it needs to be intuitive, well presented and direct – it needs to do enough to make a lasting connection. That is all good and well, but the marketing landscape is evolving and the role of a corporate website continues to decline, and in recent times, at an alarming rate. In a digital age of connected peers, social trust, and a natural advertising scepticism, people view corporate websites as clouded, pro-corporate, one-way and with a sense of bias –as Marketing!

Marketing vs. The Truth
Lets face it, why would you want to hear (and trust) the marketing spiel if you can read John Smith’s positive or negative review or very quickly find out which one of your friends or colleagues have had experiences with the prospective business. If your customers have access to this information do they need to review your corporate website? The challenge now is to determine how you can harness the groundswell of social networking and the reviews these people produce so as to ensure that you as a company are relevant, have a lasting connection with the audience and are partaking in the conversation.

The Corporate challenge
So the challenge for a good corporate website is to find out how to speak to, listen to and engage with its target audience. Now some clients will tell you that their ‘consumers don’t want to talk to them regularly’ or ‘that they aren’t asking those sort of questions’. And if you aren’t opening up these channels of communication or actively listening for the conversation, then the client is absolutely correct – consumers are not asking them these sorts of questions – but I can assure them they are asking someone else!

What makes a Corporate Website important?
So why is a corporate website important? Well, a corporate brochure site is not important! A good corporate website should open itself up, be truthful and transparent, and create a site that is rich in information and experiences, owned by both the consumers and corporation alike. A corporate site like that is work, is a step away from the safe and comfortable, but in the end, will bring you a better understanding of your consumers; their most pressing needs; a wealth of measurable and actionable data; and most importantly a chance to be involved when it counts.

If you have made it this far, here are some helpful tips when considering your next corporate website.

1. Take the time to understand your audience and their entire journey with your business (online and offline)
2. Lose the marketing spiel. Find the conversations and bring them to your website. These conversations don’t need to ‘live’ on your website, just to be a part of it. Make your pages a central source for all things you.
3. Empower someone internally to be the voice of your audience when it comes to making decisions.
4. Don’t be afraid to share a few trade secrets. Remember you have to give in order to get.
5. Be more than stock photos. Be a brand!
6. Be consistent where you take your brand.
7. The website should be a part of the sales cycle, a valuable conversion tool (not just an appendix item).

 And most importantly – Measure, Learn and Refine – Website optimisation is your friend. But that is a post for another time.

 If you have other thoughts or ideas to add, feel free to share.