You can't manage what you can't measure

So how do we maximise our diminished marketing budgets in tougher times?

Normally I would recommend you manage it effectively (do the “right” things) balanced with efficiently (do things “right”). However, when money is tight, it is wiser to put more emphasis on managing effectively, and getting the basics right, than managing efficiently, which may lead you to over-engineering in a quest for perfection.

Start with analysing your spending over, say, the past year, and compare the spend with the projected brand performance, awareness and brand loyalty. Include your key competitors in this analysis. If relevant competitive data is not available in your marketing intelligence department, work on a basis of expert assumptions. The critical point is to identify and position your brand in an “efficiency zone”, in which you neither “over-spend” nor “under-spend”.

Some ideas

Here are some ideas on how you could tailor you marketing spend more efficiently.

Re-allocate your existing marketing budget from a costly and extensive classical “above-the-line” communication campaign to an innovative targeted “below-the-line” campaign which could include viral marketing. This should also have a higher impact on your targeted performance indicator and brand awareness.

You could also restructure your brand portfolio by discontinuing brands that are not addressing the needs of targeted market segments or redesign your brand architecture by exploiting brand synergies.

These are just a few examples of using your marketing spend more efficiently, which would not only assist in the short-term, but should also improve overall brand performance long-term.

Once all your efficient brand changes have been made, I recommend you set up a tracking system to continuously monitor the brand performance against a comprehensive set of key performance indicators (KPIs). Make sure these indicators allow you to quickly identify which levers to pull if your brand plan goes “off the rails”.

Remember, you cannot manage what you cannot measure.