Does everyone on your marketing team know what success means? Does the owner know?
Here’s an example of the disconnect between the owner and the marketing department.
I asked a printing company owner to give me an example of a marketing campaign that was successful and one that was not.
This one, he said, was unsuccessful…
He outlined the campaign:
> It was aimed at existing customers to improve awareness of the printer’s design and (new) packaging services.
> The printer affixed lime green stickers to the invoice and outer envelope that said: “Asking a favor…”
> A half sheet of neon green was tucked in with invoice. A short letter explained that the printer was donating design and printing to help a local brewery that was experiencing hard times The brewery was a worthy business who needed a boost, the letter said. Would the customer be willing to provide feedback on the new package design — while enjoying a sample?
> In the P.S., the note said the account rep would be calling in a few days to make an appointment for the tasting and interview.
He said, “Well, Sandy, we got so many calls I had to spend $5,000 on beer and lunches with customers.”
I said, “Why was that unsuccessful?”
“Because I had to spend five thousand bucks!”
I laughed, but he was serious.
“After we were done, it turned out nobody had tracked hard numbers on the impact on sales. There were no before-and-after stats.”
Point taken.
Next, I went to the marketing department and got their side of the story.
They considered the modest sticker campaign one of their most successful, ever.
- It opened the door to conversations with customers who tended to follow a fixed procurement schedule.
- It provided redundancy. If the customer did not see the sticker or note, the bookkeeper or assistant almost always brought it to the customer’s attention.
- It gave sales reps a purpose and deadline for the phone call.
- It met the two stated goals: (1) raising awareness of the printer’s services and (2) helping the brewery through hard times.
The marketing department also liked the campaign because it was so affordable.
Do you see the disconnect?
Lessons learned?
Owners! Not all ROI is in real dollars!
Marketing people! Control the narrative about whether the campaign was successful!
This is how you get owners and the marketing department on the same page.
Was this campaign a success? What would you do differently? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Read more from Sandy here.
Sandy Hubbard is an experienced marketing strategist and media publisher who consults with B2B companies in the printing industry. For more than three decades, she has helped print business owners manage the big picture of growth and direction while giving their sales and marketing teams methods to achieve measurable results.
Connect with Sandy on Linkedin.
8 Responses
This campaign is a failure regardless of the results marketing reported. It failed because marketing and management did not decide beforehand on the desired outcome and metrics to track it. As a result, they have no way to calculate hard ROI and only anecdotal evidence of the campaign’s soft returns on this $5K investment.
Thanks, Jim, for your input. I wrote about 1,000 more words on this post with my opinion and suggestions, but I would rather get feedback from you all. Thanks again! ~Sandy
No – not a success.
This: “nobody had tracked hard numbers on the impact on sales. There were no before-and-after stats”.
Well, its seems like there were several disconnects or siloing going on here.
I agree, Paul. The entire campaign seemed to be run as an afterthought. I keep doing the math and wondering why the beer and meals cost $5,000. I know that’s a modest budget, but I could do a lot more for a lot less!
I don’t think the marketing team was successful, but there’s no way of knowing whether the campaign was successful or not.
The marketing team’s problem is that they (1) didn’t have a defined goal for the campaign, and (2) didn’t agree on a budget with the owner beforehand.
Campaigns like this can be difficult to budget because the costs depend on the response rate. You can limit it to the first N responses, or increase the budget if the response rate is higher than expected. Some would say this is a good problem to have.
This is an awareness campaign. It can be difficult to measure ROI when the goal is awareness. But, a new packaging customer could easily be a six-figure annual program. If you get one of these I’d say the campaign was a resounding success.
It is really common, and not just in the printing industry, for existing customers to not know the range of services their existing suppliers provide. This campaign is trying to address this problem, and it may have been very effective.
Here’s what I would have done differently:
(1) Define the budget.
(2) If budget is a concern segment the customer base and only include customers who have a high likelihood of needing packaging. This may miss out on possible customers and WOM opportunities, but that’s the way it is sometimes.
(3) Define what success looks like. It might be “20 customers respond and become aware of our packaging services”. Or “10 packaging RFQs from existing customers over the next 6 months.”
The awareness happens whenever someone reads the sticker, whether they respond or not. If you get those 10 packaging RFQs it may be difficult to attribute to the campaign. I’d have the rep ask “how did you learn about our packaging capabilities?” This is anecdotal info and probably not highly accurate, but it may be useful nonetheless.
Excellent analysis , Tod. I love your insight: The awareness happens whenever someone reads the sticker, whether they respond or not. If you get those 10 packaging RFQs it may be difficult to attribute to the campaign. I’d have the rep ask “how did you learn about our packaging capabilities?”
I also have to wonder why marketing department needs to be micromanaged on a $5,000 project. There should be a dedicated marketing budget and some level of autonomy. I’d like to see more training for the marketing team, an annual budget so projects can be prioritized, defined outcomes and tracking, identification of opportunities and lessons for the future, and proper reporting.
Thank you for your comment!
Sandy, ah yes, the marketing budget. I’ve worked with SMB clients that don’t have a marketing department and others that don’t budget. It can work in smaller companies where the owner has good judgment, although I wouldn’t recommend it.
I’m actually researching a blog post right now that tries to answer the question “How big of a marketing budget should my B2B business have?”
I agree, create a budget for the marketing team and trust them to spend it effectively. I’ve met few business owners that really want, or need, to understand all the behind-the-scenes details required for marketing today.
I personally have always found budgets to be liberating, not constraining.
I agree!