I had an interesting conversation the other day with a friend who is in charge of marketing efforts at his organization. He was proudly telling me that he gives the majority of his budget to a local radio station, primarily because they give incentives, such as free air. Each Friday at 10 a.m., the radio station invites him on as a guest personality. Once the conversation is over, he gets to throw in his 30-second elevator statement about the company.
I couldn’t help but play devil’s advocate with his decision. Did he research into this “free air time” he was receiving? Exactly how many people are listening to the radio at 10 a.m. on Friday? Out of that number, how many are in their target market?
So I pose the question, how educated are you on the marketing tactics that are being sold to you? Are you making sure these tactics will help achieve the business’s goals? Because in the end, isn’t it about your ROI?
An article by Syndi Craig-Hart entitled “How to Create a Marketing Plan to Meet Your Goals,” encourages marketing managers to spend time answering the following three questions when planning marketing activities:
- What would you really like to accomplish?
- What are you currently doing to market your product or service?
- What will you do differently in the next year?
Spend time creating clear and specific goals and then find the best tactics to achieve those goals. You never know, you might be free next Friday at 10 a.m.
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