Soaring or grounded? The ROI quandary.

To some marketers, ROI represents the ultimate rush. It’s the sky high vindication that hard work truly paid off. To others, the lack of ROI can prevent your marketing from ever taking off. And where you stand is often defined by the performance of your last campaign. When ROI is on your side, it’s a rush that’s hard to beat. Imagine walking into upper management and calmly announcing, “Our marketing delivered 300% ROI this year.” That statement tells the room that you nailed it. The strategy was spot on, the media mix was potent, the messaging hit home, and your target jumped into action. Now, you’re in multichannel marketing nirvana. That’s how to soar. What about the other extreme? The downside to ROI occurs when the lines of response and reaction seem to be blurred. For example, the program objectives defy traditional benchmarks, so it appears impossible to accurately gauge the metrics. Or the campaign sales cycle may be so long that there’s no way to quickly measure the lift from any individual tactics. Or the effort is primarily a branding exercise, without any checkpoints. In any case, firm numbers seem elusive, and to management, it’s all about the numbers. So how do you turn a grounded project into a soaring success? As you may imagine, the answers are as individual as the brand and campaign objectives. But generating ROI is always in the mix, because every activity can be measurable. The key is to define meaningful goals from the beginning, and develop a contact strategy that allows you to gauge response triggers and adjust your media and messaging accordingly. Once you have a way to read and react on the fly, you regain control of the campaign and can move your prospects seamlessly through the sales funnel. The bottom line is that you can generate soaring ROI with any campaign, and avoid any pitfalls that can ground your response. You simply need a little proven experience on your side. That’s where Jacobs & Clevenger comes in. Bring us your toughest marketing challenge. Most agencies shy away from the impossible projects. But at Jacobs & Clevenger, we say bring them on. Contact Ron Jacobs via email or call him directly at
312-894-3094. We have the people and the processes to turn any marketing migraine into a solid success.