Marketing isn't just ordering trinkets for tradeshows or breakfasts any more

Are you getting your money's worth out of the marketing data that is available to your organization?  Do you have a mobile/social marketing strategy that can give you quantifiable data that proves your return on investment.  (Of course if you invest 0 you probably think you're ahead of the curve, but you'd be wrong).  Can you actually put a sales number, meaning you got x number of sales from a specific coupon measured with a dynamic code or specific marketing or ad campaign that you paid for?

How many of you just think it's smart to spend just a few bucks for postage and just send a few hundred or a few thousand postcards out to addresses harvested for free or near free?  How many of you figure that if just one of those postcards reaches the intended audience and either comes in, calls back or refers someone to you that you're ahead of the cost curve? 

I ask you to take that scenario and ask yourself "compared to what?" 

Can you quantify such an effort in terms of cash flows and profits?  Sure you didn't spend much, but how much was just pure wasted message reaching an uninterested recipient? 

The video above shows what CMO's do in their enterprises, and IBM is the best in the world at managing data, but you don't need to spend a lot of money to harvest, analyze and manage this wealth of information that is freely available to you from your existing web site and systems.  Blogger is completely free and comes with very nice analytics that tell you at least where people came in from.  What other applications do you think you need to remain competitive and relevant in the world of social media and the blogosphere? 

Here are 4 questions to help you figure out where you can focus your marketing efforts including your direct mail, video email, blogs, social media pages, white papers, case studies, sell sheets and branded collatoral, all consistent with your web image and message:

1. Do you know who came to visit or watch your video or observe your published content and when?
2. Do you know where they came from?
3. Do you know where they went after they watched your video or looked at your content?
4. Do you know why they came to look at your content? 

If you don't know the answers to those questions and don't positively control the analytics and the data to give you those answers, then you are not maximizing the free or practically free technology that is available to you.  That is why consultants exist, to offer expertise on subjects like this to allow you to focus on your core competency.  Talk to a marketing consultant who understands the value of data management and analytics and thinks in terms of conversion and ROI like a CMO rather than the marketing professionals who focus on flashy design, nice breakfasts at the Chamber, or obsessing on the basket of trinkets you should offer at the next tradeshow or other event. 

Expect more from marketing.