2 minute read
MARKETING MATTERS
Marketing Matters MARKETING MATTERS
Expert advice to improve how you promote and sell your products or services
IN A NEW SERIES, EXCLUSIVELY FOR BDN, DAN SAGER FROM Fab-Biker PR looks at the specific challenges of marketing in a harsh economic climate. fab-biker.co.uk
IN THE KNOW WHEN IT COMES TO DATA
If you are cutting your marketing budget remember to reserve something for unexpected emergencies or opportunities
When it comes to making savings, you want to cut the costs in areas that will do the least damage. That’s a simple principle, but how do you know which parts of your marketing budget you can trim with minimal impact on results?
American politician Donald Rumsfeld summed this challenge up neatly; “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know”.
Starting with the last point first, we can’t plan for every eventuality under the sun, so a sensible precaution is to leave some of your budget for unexpected emergencies or opportunities. And if you haven’t spent it at the end of the year, you could always carry it forward. Just be sure to have something in reserve.
Then there are the known unknowns. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have told me that they don’t know whether their print advertising is working. In the ‘good old days’ the ‘phone would ring on the day an advert appeared in a newspaper or magazine, with customers asking for more information, a brochure or even placing an order. To a certain extent, that was also true of sponsorship - “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” – so it was easy to gauge whether your adverts or sponsorship were generating sales. Things have moved on since then and, although there might not be any obvious clues whether your print campaigns are working, there are other ways to measure success. Do more people visit your website when you run adverts or after weekends when your sponsored riders have been racing? When you know you don’t know something, try to find a way to get the information you need.
Which brings us neatly to the things we know that we know. When it comes to digital advertising and social media, you can get all sorts of statistics at the push of a button.
This can lead to a false sense of security. As wise farmers used to say; “Weighing a pig doesn’t make it any heavier”. Just because hundreds of people clicked on a link or liked an Instagram post, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are potential customers. Sometimes you need to drill down below the headline figures to discover what’s really going on.
When the time comes to sharpen your pencil and make some savings, you need to be sure you have the data to show you where to prune without damaging the tree. You know it makes sense!
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