It’s ironic that in a down economy, businesses tighten their belts, monitor spending and scrutinize operations; yet in good economic times those rules fly out the window.  No matter the business climate, you should ask yourself the following: How do you make sure your teams stay focused, market effectively and deliver a solid return on investment?  Simple.  Set up a plan with goals and a monitor process, and measure against those goals so your business can perform up to its potential in any situation.

Today media is cheaper, agencies are looking for business, and your competitors are probably on the ropes.  Now is the time to be aggressive, be effective, and take control of your customers with a targeted message.  But do not chase every offer from every ad rep.  Look at each opportunity with the following guidelines.

1. Does it reach the target audience that I need to sell to?
2. Is it more cost effective than other media or opportunities?
3. Can I measure its effectiveness?
4. At what point do I make money if I select this opportunity?
5. Who in my team will measure and report back if it worked?
6. Does it fit with everything else in my marketing arsenal?

Points one through five offer quick ways to evaluate opportunities for ad buys, PR placements, telemarketing efforts or other types of client outreach.  You should be able to identify those who buy your products and determine whether a particular spend can help reach your audience.  Most companies do well up to here, but they forget to actually get out a calculator and run some numbers.  As an example, if I sell my product or service for $100, and make $36 in profit, an ad for $3,600 in a magazine has to bring me 100 new clients just to break even.  (In my company we strive to make a profit.)  Most companies don’t track performance nor calculate the average response rate to ads and the conversion rate of those who respond.  Don’t be afraid to run the numbers!

Point number six is the other area where many companies have lost control.  They have various campaigns running in different media that do not all tie back to a single rally point.  The customer receives mixed messages.  If you run a “buy one get one free” special in the paper, but a customer looking at your website does not see that deal, they may feel cheated and look elsewhere.

The idea of integrated marketing is not new.  It was quite common for a long time, until we started to silo advertising from PR from media and so on.  Then we added interactive marketing and even more walls went up. Break those walls down and get every message to your customer to sync up in every medium you communicate in!  This consistency has huge payoffs in customer adoption and that pays off in bottom line revenues.