As Marketers we continually screw ourselves every time we open our mouths and spout out… the brand, advertising, radio, tv, print, events, digital, creative, marketing “expense”, media, etc.
All of those terms scream — Expense! It reinforces the misconception that all marketing is expense… and people outside of Marketing (e.g. Finance/Sales, etc.) keep thinking “why do we spend so much money on this fluff.”
Whether we like it or not, we Marketers have branded our work expense. So every time the company needs to cut expenses… the Marketing budget is the first stop. And the self fulfilling prophecy of cutting the budget which decreases the effectiveness/metrics gives critics more ammunition that Marketing just does “stuff”.
Learn to live with it folks… Marketing is Sales! Yes, we are Sales People. Damn it, we’re in Sales! Why?? Every single dollar spend on Marketing should drive sales. Think about it… why would Company Executive, Board of Directors and Shareholders support the expenses associated with Marketing. Because they expect… no demand… that sales will be positively impacted by the expense.
Marketing Research
Advertising
Creative
Media — TV, Digital, etc.
Direct Mail
Database Marketing
Marketing Operations
Technology
Web Sites
Headcount
And the list goes on and on…
We must change the language first… we need to add the word “sales” into our vernacular.
Sales drive by advertising
Sales Web Site
eCommerce
Web leads
Demand generation sales
Advertising sales / lead generation
Sales customer research
Events which drive sales leads
Sales metrics
The change in language starts to change the way our budgets are looked at. Now we can start dialog around cutting budget cuts sales. Finance and executives will now be forced to reconcile budget cuts on sales drivers vs. marketing expenses. It’s a hell of lot easier talking about how those budget cuts will impact sales vs. how GRPs or brand awareness will be impacted.
Scott
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