Marketing Benchmarking & Best Practices

It is difficult to for any company to successfully analyze their marketing spend and effectiveness when they are faced with other priorities such as simply keeping the ship afloat as a result of the economic crisis.

We think a hard economic environment requires even greater measurement than in times of plenty. And yet, a 2009 global study of 125 business and technology companies shows that less than 35% fully use simple benchmarking tools in the area of marketing resource management to assess marketing campaigns (or branding initiatives) and their attendant sales results, and inbound/outbound customer interaction management.

Our practice in marketing benchmarking and best practices is based on over 20 years of experience with chief marketing officers and other senior executives of Fortune 500 companies. Performance improves when companies use detailed spending and manpower analysis for clear strategic direction-setting.

We help our clients ensure that marketing spending is optimized through:

• Purchasing Management – Detailed analysis of corporate marketing spend across the entire marketing spend chain. Applying purchasing and supply management principles to identify where the principal spend is occurring and identify opportunities where these budgets might be optimized.

• Program Efficacy – Conducting analysis of marketing plans and spending programs and weighting these results against the objectives of the company, division, or brand. The result obtained is to eliminate wasteful programs and concentrate the money on the programs that work. Really work.

• Gap Analysis & Recalibration – Identifying weaknesses where the brand may be encountering resistance among its consumers’ purchase decision or against its competition. The result would be to refocus attention on the problem via messaging or retooled value proposition to achieve lift against a particular measure that is affecting profitability.

• Agency Partner Evaluation – Ensuring the appropriate partners are in place to help build brand salience, customer loyalty, and conversion. Through our Agency Search Practice, we assist our clients in finding the right voice and media messaging partners for their brand across marketing disciplines in media, creative, digital, public relations, sponsorships and events.