Everything is measurable in marketing

Just looking at comments on the subject from some of the world's greatest marketers show that they all agree - everything in marketing is measurable.

The problem today of course, is that far too many marketers and people who really aren't marketers but have simply been dumped into the job, rush into ad and PR campaigns as well as all sorts of other marketing activities without actually thinking about what they are doing.

Generally all they are obsessed with is the BIG IDEA which, quite frankly has caused more marketing efforts to fail than succeed.

This knee-jerk rush into marketing is what caused 20 per cent of all advertising to fail and leads to South African business wasting R50 billion a year on ineffectual marketing.

Quite simply, marketing is all about measurement. Marketing done properly is nothing more than a pretty boring system of checks and balances to ensure that not only do various elements not conflict but that the outcome can be measured.

The only time marketing cannot be measured is when measurement tools are put in at the end and not the beginning.

That's like trying to work out the fuel consumption on your car when you haven't made a record of the mileage when you left or how much petrol you put in the tank.

All marketing can be measured if measurement tools are put in right at the start. It's not rocket science stuff just plain and simple logic.