Marketing Will Be Accountable, When I Choose To Be

By John Watson, June 2007

There is a wave of change rolling through the marketing community. Somewhere around the new millennium, a tiny segment of the marketing community became infatuated with the idea of accountable marketing. The basic idea is that marketing can deliver a measurable return on investment. Compare this to accepting the old saying that “50% of my marketing dollars are wasted, I’m just not sure which 50%”, and you can see why there is such interest in the topic. The idea is beginning to go mainstream now (in 2007) as the tools are maturing and becoming accessible to smaller and smaller firms.

Historically if we tracked campaigns at all it required painstaking efforts over several months. Today using advanced tracking technology we can track the cost of a sale from diverse media sources in nearly real time. We now test multiple creative options in the market, gauging consumer response rates within hours. With this feedback we can alter the course of a campaign before lunch and see the resulting changes before dinner. The opportunity for accountability in marketing is unprecedented. However, it is not the tracking technology that creates marketing accountability, it is our choice to manage our marketing investments that delivers the results.

Given the money invested and the degree of control we now have over marketing effectiveness, it is surprising how few people (business owners and marketers alike) actively manage their marketing investments. Many business owners I see are still drawn to marketing simply to look professional. It seems as a group we are reluctant to learn enough about marketing to drive sales and earnings growth. I often hear that “I did not get an advanced degree to become a sales person”. It seems many of us still view sales and marketing as unsavory and a distraction from our real business.

The path of most marketing engagements is predictable. We hire an experienced writer, graphic designer, programmer or project manager to help us market. The consultant’s goals are to make a profit and to make us happy by giving us what we want, when we want it. Our new team simplifies our messages and makes us look professional; they automate our processes and get us on-line. In their eagerness to help, they do not question our experience, our wisdom or the appropriateness of our requests. They do not eagerly confront us with questions on how well we have considered our requests, or what results we require.

As a result of the engagement, our words are now clear and eloquent. We look amazing, professional and clever. Now that we look amazing, it is time to advertise. We are told that it takes significant reach and frequency to get our message out and to build brand awareness. That is when our money really starts flowing and the financial risk skyrockets. “Give it enough time to work”, they say, “You are not spending nearly enough to make an impact.”

When the dust settles, the returns are often too low to justify the expense. What happened? We paid for everything, where are the returns? We blame the agency for our losses. The marketers cry fowl since they were paid to execute not to get results, “we can’t force people to buy from you” they say. Who is accountable, we ask?

Too frequently business owners looking to grow, ask for help in the most obvious places. Owners pay consultants to complete the projects they think they need. The owner is hoping the marketer will be accountable for results, and the consultant assumes the owner will be. Clearly there is an opportunity for greater clarity on expectations.

I believe that accountability is about choice. As business owners we can choose to learn enough about sales and marketing to help our marketing teams help us increase earnings growth. Alternatively we can choose to hire someone else to be accountable for us.

Choosing the first option means actively engaging in the marketing process and making sure your team understands that success is measured in positive financial outcomes. It requires that we know what we want and are able to direct our teams to take appropriate actions with clear and specific language. In my experience, developing short, clear and specific written answers to the following questions can empower your team to align their actions with your core objectives.

Recommended Questions:

1. Why does our business exist – what is our purpose?
2. What are our financial goals and critical timeframes?
3. Who specifically, are we in business to serve?
4. What core problems do we solve for these people?
5. What are we selling?
6. What is breakeven on our average new sale?
7. What sales channels are efficient enough to deliver new sales at a profit?
8. How much new business do we need or are we prepared to handle?
9. How are we going to make it easy for new clients to buy from us?
10. How do we create enough urgency to compel new clients to buy now?
11. How are we going to track results on our marketing investments?

Choosing the second option means you must find willing, able and committed people to help you. You will know you found the right people when they start leading you through these or similar questions.

Choosing to be accountable with marketing has taken me longer and was harder than I anticipated. I needed to confront my own uncertainty and the many gaps in my understanding and communication effectiveness. Despite the extra effort required, the results for me are that I feel more empowered, my business is growing and I continue to improve what I earn from my marketing investments. Despite all the talk about accountable marketing and tracking technology, I find that my marketing becomes accountable when I choose to be.

About John Watson

John Watson is the president of Accrue Performance Marketing Inc. and is the author of Being Profitable™: the earnings growth program.  John has been consulting since 1993.  He specializes in helping entrepreneurs Design, Build and Grow market leading companies. John was the VP Strategy at Rare Method Interactive, and President of Advanced Information Marketing Inc. John is a serial entrepreneur who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

About Accrue Performance Marketing Inc.
Accrue is a full-service performance marketing and business coaching firm, founded in 2006. Accrue’s purpose is to lead entrepreneurs along a direct route to commercial success. At the core of our service model are Being Profitable™: the earnings growth program and our proprietary on-line sales lead generation process. We serve progressive leaders of small and mid-sized companies with aggressive growth objectives.

For information on Accrue or Being Profitable™ call (800)860-0026 or (403)512-3183 or visit www.accruemarketing.com.