It has always been a puzzling world for me. This world that is called marketing and PR (Public Relations).
I have always been arguing with every marketing “guru” out there for so long it’s making me sick of even mentioning the name. You see I have been looking for a marketing and PR company to handle my portfolio of companies. I purchase advertisements; I do interviews; I actually go through the motions of trying to find the right fit.
The only question that no one so far has been able to answer is !!!! Wait for it !!!! How do I measure my return on investment?
Don’t get me wrong, they all have something to blabber about. Answers include, “we increase traffic to your website”, “we run paid advertising and click through” and “we do targeting campaigns”.
Who gives a flying crap about all that?!! Not me.
The only thing I care about is results. If I invest $1 in marketing how much am I going to get back as a direct result of what you are asking me to pay. Period. End of discussion.
It’s like they are trying to sell me apples by the kilograms. It feels like they are selling marketing by the weight. Let’s create gigabits of data and nice graphs and stats and other meaningless pieces of information and the only thing I am looking for which is results they don’t have.
Another typical conversation I have is around budget.
“Yes our typical monthly budget for this company is about $2,000 per month and we need about 5-6 months to see results and be able to measure and adjust our campaigns”. Holy crap. Did he actually just say that to me?
Did he just ask me for a budget of 10-12,000 to see if he can get me results? WOW!!
I feel so sorry for all the business leaders who actually buy into this bull crap. I have always said that if you can’t measure it don’t ask me for money for it – but that’s a different blog all together.
I truly feel that marketing and PR should be upended and turned upside down. I always advised my clients and leaders to never ever do anything unless they can measure it. I believe everything and anything can be measured.
The marketing & PR industry should be quick to reinvent itself or be left behind. A lot of my colleagues are asking, why they are spending the money? Where are they spending the money? What immediate return on investment are they getting?
If you are a marketing company and can’t answer these questions, close shop and move on. Definitely don’t sit across the table from me.
I will never take a risk on you if you can’t measure results.