Are you "cup half-empty" on Marketing ROI?

Paul Dunay is.  I just received his latest Buzz Marketing for Technology newsletter, which featured a link to an intriguing post entitled "Is ROI Killing Marketing?"

Dunay's got a special facility for exaggerating to make a point  (he even says he does this on purpose!).  This is a technique that actually DOES make people stop and think. But when he cited his very first example of how ROI may be killing marketing, I found myself in disagreement.  He wrote:

"... consider internal branding campaigns. With little to show other than happy employees, this initiative would fall to a second tier initiative since lead generation activities would normally be needed to calculate your ROI. As a second tier initiative it is fine. But who can afford to have that as a first tier initiative anymore if you are only judged on ROI?"

This is a simplistic portrayal of both ROI initiatives and internal branding campaigns, and, although Dunay's readership is broadly targeted, it's especially simplistic for professional service firms (PSFs).  For the PSF sector, employees ARE critical embodiments of the brand promise, so internal campaigns are crucial, and happy employees are not the sought-after result (although of course happy employees are also critical, but it's likely not because of an internal branding campaign). 

And it's simplistic related to ROI initiatives in the PSF arena too, since the connection to the marketplace is highly nuanced and complex.  I don't know ANY PSFs that only judge people on ROI.  The truth is, they don't measure ENOUGH on ROI, even as part of other performance standards.

Despite my critique, I think Paul Dunay does a great job of reminding us to look at where we should put our emphasis -- and make deliberate choices to make our efforts count!   

Comments

[Russ Green]

Agreed that internal branding efforts are critical for the PSF sector, but we're living in a world of ROI and metrics. "You do what you measure." "What's worth doing is worth measuring." If happy employees are NOT the sought-after result of internal branding efforts, what is? How DO you measure? First, activity via the number of employees touched by, or interacting with, internal branding tactics. Second, results. Since PSF employees are critical embodiments of the brand promise, the key measurements are customer surveys...of brand awareness, brand experience, overall satisfaction, etc. There ARE valid ways to measure ROI.

[Moving Company Oregon]

"ANY PSFs that only judge people on ROI. The truth is, they don't measure ENOUGH on ROI, even as part of other performance standards." That is so true. This post couldnt come in at more opportune time.