The cost of doing nothing

February 2010

Would you rather win a new customer at the start of your financial year, or towards the end?

For most businesses, it is far more attractive to have the customer in the bag as soon as possible. After all, that customer win could lead to repeat business and new referrals throughout the year. And having the money in the bank is going to benefit your cashflow.

More time is more ROI

If you want to win that new customer at the start of your financial year, that’s when you need to invest in making it happen. Marketing is like a lot of investments: the return you get is time-sensitive. It takes time for good PR campaigns to build momentum and achieve coverage as key journalists tune in to your messages. The sooner you get started with the email marketing campaign you’ve been meaning to kick off, the sooner you will reap the rewards from cross-selling and up-selling to your customers and prospects.

It can be difficult to measure return on marketing investment. But it’s much easier to count the cost of doing nothing – or delaying your marketing programmes – in lost revenue and forgone profits. The best way to ensure that you deliver your marketing communications in a timely manner is to set SMART objectives, plan your campaigns, and check that you have the resources and expertise to deliver.

Time to marcoms

Make 2010 the year you start to measure ‘time to marcoms’ as one of your key marketing performance indicators. If, like many UK businesses, your financial year starts in April, now is the ideal time to start planning your marketing programmes for 2010.

If you need help planning an effective and timely marcoms campaign, please contact us.

 

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