How effective is your board at ensuring value for money in marketing spend?
You need to ensure that your planning process is designed to deliver an outcome-centred
activity plan which:
- Supports your business strategy
- Creates the insight that you need to steer your business in the direction you have planned
- Supports your sales plans and sales objectives
- Short term
- Medium term
- Long term
Some questions to ask yourself and your team:
- To what extent is a balanced marketing plan built and costed ensuring that clear outcomes are defined, aligned to overall business strategy and with a clear link to sales activity?
- Once the plan exists, are Marketers challenged to ensure best possible value for money by reviewing suppliers and changing where required to deliver the required return within the available budget?
- Do Marketers dismiss help from other professionals (Purchasing for example) in ensuring best value?
- When did you last initiate a best value review of the sub-contractors being used
by your marketing function?
- Did it result in changes?
- When did you last review the mix of in-house and sub-contract resources being
used in your marketing?
- Did the review result in changes?
- When you review marketing budgets are they treated:
- Purely as a cost?
- Purely as an investment
- Somewhere in between?
Cost control is always worthwhile - make sure that it does not result in a reduction in marketing outcomes.
At SPS, we have a wealth of experience in ensuring best value in all business
disciplines - give us a call to find out more.