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December 27, 2005
Which Comes First? The Investment Chicken or the ROI Egg?
The conundrum is this: while a lack of internal resources and knowledge contributes to the low levels of implementation that ROI analysis for brand and marketing investments currently enjoys, the hard data that conscientious ROI measurement over time delivers is exactly what upper level management at most institutions crave.
In our experience, the typical CEO or CFO will not hesitate to put the necessary resources towards a venture that has a proven, compelling return on investment. But resources for measurement must first be allocated to enjoy this result. No, solutions aren’t simple. But you can start small, by promising yourself (and binding your team to an oath) to always consider, and if possible measure, the efficacy and ROI on virtually any marketing or branding spend.
Posted by MCorp. at 27.12.2005 20:26 | Permalink
Comments
That's so true.
Sometimes, ROI takes detours. If you're purely a sales organization, then yeah, ROI can be calculated pretty easily. Not every campaign is about increasing sales immediately, though. When you're talking about building brands, ROI might come in the form of what suits might call 'intangibles'. (Increased customer satisfaction, increased brand recognition or exposure, increased brand or product relevance, etc.) Ultimately, they do add black to the bottom-line, but perhaps not in cookie-cutter kind of measurable way.
A CEO who understands that has a huge advantage over his less emlightened competitors.
Posted by: olivier blanchard at December 29, 2005 2:12 PM