Marketing on a Tight Budget—Don’t Go It Alone [Back]
When deciding how to manage increasingly tight budgets, most companies look for ways to cut frivolous expenses. Unfortunately, in times of severe economic stress this can lead to careless decision-making. Sometimes rather than trimming the fat, we cut off our nose.
One vital part of a business plan that often finds itself on the chopping block is marketing. Few of us would argue that marketing is not important to our business’ success, but other priorities seem more immediately pressing—so we agree to “postpone” marketing activities, only later to realize that we missed some excellent opportunities. Even if we admit that we must continue to communicate, many of us will assume a bunker mentality, overloading internal staff with responsibilities that they are not prepared to tackle. The rationale may be offered that marketing is largely common sense and can be handled casually with minimal consequences. As long as some marketing gets done, all will be well and we can move along to the important business of selling, producing, and providing our goods or services.
But hold on for a moment.
Are the strategies that underlie marketing activities really that simple? Are they “common” in the sense that anyone, at any time, should be able to make them quickly and make them well? If so, then slashing budgets for outside marketing vendors, and redistributing those responsibilities to already overburdened internal departments could make sense. But let’s explore whether this is really true.
First let’s admit one fact: when a marketing strategy is a good one, then it will by necessity seem to be obvious. The whole point of good marketing is that communication flows effortlessly to those who need to hear it. The effort behind a marketing activity should, by and large, not be apparent.
Paradoxically, it is getting to the point where a strategy seems effortless that requires the most work. There are a number of factors involved, and certainly common sense is a major one. But other factors make common sense valuable …like experience and education, resources, and time. All of these factors make common sense a natural resource that really pays off:
• Time is critical in marketing strategies, because only with adequate time can poor ideas be rejected and better ones brought in to replace them. Rushing ahead with the first solution to a problem is not usually the best way to proceed; and when the first solution does turn out to be the best, it is always made better through careful deliberation and reflection. Always.
• Good resources expand the possibilities of any marketing activity. If you have a limited number of options for implementing an idea, you're not likely to find the most effective one. A larger reservoir of materials, suppliers, and technologies allow you to pinpoint your activity and maximize its effectiveness.
• Education and experience provide the wider perspectives and knowledge base that lead to more creative solutions and flexible thinking. There is no substitute for experience when it is teamed with adequate resources and time. Inspiration comes from unexpected places, and past experience is rich in raw material for inspiration.
Against these advantages, contrast the situation that internal staffers face when given marketing duties that they are are too busy to handle comfortably. Quick solutions will likely prevail whether or not they are the most effective; execution may be compromised if the resources are not provided for trying alternatives, and almost certainly quality will suffer because there is simply no time to fine-tune. Are these cost-effective ways to manage marketing functions? An internal marketing staff that is well-equipped and allowed to work to its potential is an invaluable asset to any organization. All too often, however, these creative individuals are asked to do too much with too little.
As with most things, compromise in these matters can sometimes be the best way to move ahead. If marketing budgets are tightened, consider meeting with your outside marketing vendors to discuss ways that priorities can be set and concrete plans laid for moving forward productively.
Some questions to ask are:
• Which projects are expendable? Sometimes an element in a marketing plan can seem important at first, but changing circumstances turn it into an unnecessary distraction. Re-evaluate each part of your plan to see whether there are ways to free up time and resources.
• Which projects can be handled internally? If you have an internal marketing department or staffer, some projects can be designed in such a way that no outside help is required at all. This may not require any change in the project, or it may require a slight modification. Either way, be honest in your evaluation of what your department can do well and do efficiently.
• Which projects really require the most investment to make them successful? We have said this before and will surely say it again: any dollar spent on a poorly executed marketing strategy is a wasted one, even if those dollars are spent internally. Identify those key projects that rely on the experience, resources and commitment of an outside vendor.
We all have to trim fat these days, but there’s no need to get our noses out of joint. Remember, a temporary downturn in the economy can be an opportunity for your organization to out-market your competition. Working hand in hand with a marketing vendor to help shape a reasonable, effective marketing strategy can give anyone a competitive edge. Who doesn’t need that?