By M. Isi Eromosele

In applying an optimized approach to marketing investment, it is necessary to acquire great input information in order to make us of the output one. In order to create your marketing investment program, you must consider your future direction.

The first step toward determining where to place your marketing assets is to develop an expansive selection of potential marketing investments, looking for ways to stimulate your brand by using optimal marketing mix and every customer touch point.

One of the major drivers that would help make investment decisions should be the information gathered from the implementation of previous marketing programs, which could include such components as specific profiles of leads that was generated.

Determine not just how many leads were created from a particular marketing investment, but also how many were converted at each stage of the sales process. The mere exercise of requiring marketing managers to treat all marketing spending as investments will pay almost immediate positive results in the quality of thought and approach process.

The goal is not to engender impossible accuracy, but to comparatively evaluate marketing investments against each other. This enables the creation of an ROI profile for each market investment.

Additionally, the marketer should identify non-financial metrics that give a more complete picture of the potential investment and could also serve as a great indicator of how the investment will perform. These additional metrics can mean the difference between seizing a great opportunity and wasting a lot of capital.

Inherent in every marketing investment is a set of assumptions. These are the assumptions that drive the initial decision whether to make the marketing investment or not.

• Sales cycle conversion factors - These conversion factors form the core of your company’s customer management program and are an excellent indicator that determines whether you marketing investment is going to succeed.
• Channel perspective - The key here is to align sales input to historical results. This is simply to make sure your marketing channels are aligned with your customer demand attributes.
• Investment risk - It is crucial to capture some of the vague qualities of marketing investments that are difficult to measure. This risk evaluation can play a vital role in helping you determine where to place your marketing investments.
• Historical performance - The company’s experience in previous marketing investment vehicles must be evaluated.

When you treat marketing expenditures as investments, you often have the opportunity to reevaluate in midstream. You can evaluate how your investment is faring against your original budget and in essence, rethink whether it is the best allocation of money.

Armed with a process to measure the impact of your marketing investments, you will be well optimally equipped to practice Enterprise Marketing Management when positioning your marketing assets to drive profitable sales.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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