Where Your Marketing Dollars Really Go

Most marketing teams are all about social media and building brand awareness. They want a large advertising budget because they think that you have to spend a lot of money on advertising in order to stand out and really be effective. The problem is that most of the time there is no quantifiable data to help you understand what is working and what isn’t. Not to mention the fact that no one is paying attention to traditional marketing mediums or channels.

The world of business communication is shrinking. Although technology and information are growing at break neck speeds, communications between people and business is pulling in closer to home and more intimate. It is no longer about how many people you reach but how engaged each user you reach actually is. Do they care about the message you are delivering? Are they interested in your product? and don’t think for a second that just because someone is not a buyer for your product that they are any less valuable to your marketing efforts. You never know who they know or who they might share your content with.

Because of these shifts in communication, companies are having to re-think their entire marketing process. Marketing departments have to focus on keeping up with new marketing technology as well as constantly create engaging content to keep drawing their audience in towards the top of their sales funnel. With inbound marketing you get a firm view of who is using your product, where the traffic is coming from, how engaged they are in your message and so much more. You can track all of your inbound marketing efforts in one central location which gives you a huge leg up on the competition.

Dont be scared to challenge your marketing team to make sure that they are looking for new creative ways to help your business stand out. Challenge them to show you the return on their time and the results of each specific campaign they are working on. If they want more advertising dollars, make them show you what you got for the marketing budget they already spent.

[evidence] “I’m not telling you to fire your marketing department, just that it is common for people to get caught up in trying to keep up as opposed to pushing the limits of creative marketing tactics.”  [/evidence]

Marketing afterall is just the art of exposing your business. You are in business because you wanted to provide a product or a service and you thought you could do it better than the people who were currently doing it. So how come when it comes to marketing you are ok with doing the same things as your competition or even falling in line with industry standards. It’s ok to push the limits and get a little edgy. It’s actually encouraged.