01 April 2011
Deadlines. Deadlines. Deadlines. What would the marketing and advertising industry be without them? The question becomes when you talk about time vs quality vs cost, how do you determine the right balance to maximize all three? The short answer is it takes discipline. Building brand and response programs within a framework can really provide the organization you need to out perform the marketing efforts of your competition.
Generally, here’s how to manage by discipline:
Brand should be reviewed annually and adjusted, answering the questions: What changes have there been in the market? What changes have there been in our offering? Should we adjust course? If so, how?
Direct marketing, promotions, retail and other sales oriented campaigns should be reviewed quarterly: Did we reach our goals? What worked? What’s repeatable? How can we improve?
Online, email and sales/employee related efforts should be reviewed weekly: What can we say or promote? What news can we get out there? What do we need to remind people of?
The best businesses run marketing as they run accounting, operations, manufacturing or sales. With consistent but flexible metrics and milestones with built in periods of course correction — making marketing and advertising a powerful competitive weapon.
