Look Beyond Return on Investment

Return on investment in marketing is overrated.

What am I, some kind of heretic? Shouldn't everything a business spends money on have an ROI to determine if it is money and time well spent?

I think expecting every aspect of business to be measurable, especially marketing, can lead to adversity to risk. All too often, clients will say to me that they tried different marketing tactics and didn't have one direct client come out of the various initiatives they tried.

Granted, no one wants to spend money on something and not know whether they will get something of value, but some people take it to an extreme or have unrealistic expectations. The key is to understand what you are doing and why you are doing it and to have realistic expectations. Here are some classic examples of unrealistic expectations in various aspects of your business.

• Advertising: The reason you advertise is because you have something special to sell and are offering your product or service at a fair or competitive price. You pick a particular vehicle for advertising because of the demographics of its readers. If your product or service doesn't sell, it has very little to do with the publication you're advertising in and more to do with the perceived value of the product or service -- the look of the ad and the information it contains.
• Marketing services: Every company needs marketing. If you don't raise your visibility, you won't be able to sell your product or service. Marketing is all about demonstrating why your product or service is different, through unique benefits or cost. It's about creating a message that is memorable.

  Marketing can enhance your chances of selling your product or service, but there are no guarantees. If you are expecting marketing alone to get clients to open their wallets, you don't understand marketing.