Measure and manage the ROI

By the past, some campaigns were expensive, with low financial returns on the spendings. Marketers used to be spending like rock stars on big marketing programs, trying to impress the customers. They were saying that marketing produces intangible creative outcomes, which you cannot translate in financial terms.

Nowadays, marketing ROI is a big issue for marketers and the economy. Marketers must be able to justify their expenses. They also need to be able to measure perfectly is the combination of strategy and tactics they are implementing is about to generate the most in terms of profit.

The return on Investment is now possible to measure. It is the net return from a marketing investment divided by the cost of it, and helps us measure the profit generated by investment in marketing activities.

It is still hard to measure. Harder than any other business expenses. If you buy a piece of equipment and then measure the productivity gain, you have the ROI of this investment. In marketing, benefits such as advertising impact can't be put into dollar returns.

A solution was found by some companies to capitalize all marketing performance (brand awareness, sales, or market share) into one marketing dashboard. This dashboard displays all the information needed to implement new strategic programs.

Increasingly, beyond the sole performance of marketing, marketers are using customer centered measures of marketing impact such as customer acquisition, customer retention, customer lifetime value and customer equity. These measures showcase not only sound marketing performance, but also future performance benefiting from stronger customer relationships.

Improving investment in marketing should increase customer value and satisfaction. Thus it improves also customer attraction and customer retention. Finally this delivers an increase in customer lifetime value and customer retention. Customers equity in relation to the cost of marketing determines the return on investment of the marketing program.

The Zero moment of truth

The ZMOT, or zero moment of truth, is a marketing term that has been developed by Google in 2011 by Jim Lecinski. It has been influenced by the original moments of marketing unraveled by the teams of Procter and Gamble in 2005. They are the First moment of truth (FMOT) and the Second moment of truth (SMOT). This was possible through the stimulus at the beginning of the marketing process. This was so important to Procter and Gamble that they decided to create a position for this as Director of FMOT. The job was filled with Dina Howell.
According to Procter and Gamble CEO, A.G. Lafley, there are two moments of truth. The first one happens at the store shel, when the consumer has to choose between the brands. The second one happens at home, when the customer uses the brand and is deeply satisfied by it. As a result, we use to see the marketing stigma as, first the Stimulus, then the Shelf, then the Experience.

The ZMOT introduced by Google ads another moment of truth. The zero moment of truth is made possible thanks to our connected environment. The consumer is now able to search for a product on his/ her laptop or his/ her smartphone. He can see which brand fits the best it's needs before the shelf. As a result, the ZMOT is volatile and is hard to visualize for a brand. The new "mental model" as Lecinski calls it, is Stimulus, ZMOT, FMOT, SMOT. First, the consumer sees the ad on TV, he makes research about the product, and finds the best brand. When his decision is made, he goes to the shelf, buys the product and enjoys it at home. The weakness of the first model was that the decision was made at the shelf. The consumer was able to get help from the seller. He could directly see if there was a specific promotion or a bundle of the product he was buying. Yet he was directly influenced by the advertisement on the point of sale. The product that would win would be the one standing in front of the customer at that specific moment. Now the consumer's decision happens far away from the point of sale. The consumer doesn't waste any more time wandering in the alleys, he already knows why he came to the shop. He is still able to ask advices from an employee and might still be influenced on his way to get the product. The ZMOT ads up a whole new  dimension to the customers experience. The content is richer, through videos, pictures and buzz marketing. The brand have to take this into account and find their ways to adapt their strategy to customers.

As a result ZMOT is a big part of our buying process. ZMOT stands as the perfect solution to describe the online marketing and sales. The search engine is the best suited to do the job as they regularly receive tons of questions. They are the best at engaging with customers and providin them with the best product they would need, at the right time. When a customer searches a "shampoo for bright hair" for example or a "soft toothbrush", you have to do it right. When is the best moment to show your product to the customers?

Audio:
https://soundcloud.com/pilum-agency/pilum-agency-zmot

Marketing planning and implementation

In marketing, in order to be efficient, you must always be one step ahead and act in prevision of what will or can happen. As a result, we deliver strategic marketing plan that will be able to lead people, to show how the strategy is going to be implemented overtime.

(Marketing plan: Executive summary, current marketing situation, threats and opportunities analysis, objectives and issues, marketing strategy, action programs, budgets, controls)

A marketing plan comprises an executive summary. This column is a little recap of the projects, the goals, the recommendations that has been going through around it.

After that, you must include a marketing analysis of the current situation.

The SWOT analysis helps you analyse and group internal and external forces, and turn them into positive or negative factors.

SWOT stands for Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Strenghts are internal capabilities and resources. It is a positive situational factors and will help you deliver the right value to customers and atteign its objectives.

Weaknesses are internal limitations and negative situational factors. It interfere with the company's performance.

Opportunities are trends or favorable factors in the internal environment. Companies may exploit opportunities to reach their goals.

Finally Threats are unfavorable external trends that may present challenges to performance.

Finally, you conclude the marketing plan by explaining the objectives and how to achieve them.

In order to make the strategic planning possible, you must go through the process of marketing implementation. You must put into action the marketing plan. The focus of the organisation is then on how to implement the planning and it is made possible thanks to managers and leaders inside the company's team.

Audio:
https://soundcloud.com/pilum-agency/marketing