Well it's been another fantastic week in the global economy hasn't it! Do remember though that the main thing that is in genuinely short supply is 'confidence'. As business owners, managers or consumers we all have a choice about how we react to this situation. We can choose to be concerned about our futures and further reduce the level of confidence in our community, region, country and the world, or we can look for the opportunities that the economic changes provide, take positive actions and retain our confidence. The one thing that is clear from the last 12 months, and especially the last few weeks is that confidence is contagious - if we lose confidence, it's likely to spread to our customers, suppliers and bank managers; if we exude confidence it makes other people more confident too.
Whether your 'glass' is half full or half empty, it's undeniably a great time to review your marketing budgets. Some businesses will want to reduce their spend; others will be wondering if now is the time to increase their marketing presence, especially with some great deals on offer to advertisers.
The best way to approach both situations is to review where money is being spent right now, and most importantly what returns it is generating. I have listed below a short checklist that you might find useful:
Aardvark Marketing Consultants Spend Checklist
- Do you have clear, measurable annual marketing objectives for your business?
- Do you have an annual budget for your marketing activity?
- Is your annual marketing plan phased across the year?
- Do you have indicator measures that show you if the marketing activity is working throughout the year?
- Do you review these indicators and your marketing activity every month?
- Are you running any marketing activity without knowing if it works or not?
Hopefully, you answered 'yes' to the first five questions and 'no' to the last one! If not, and you would like some help to turn your answer around, or you just want to understand why the questions is so important, I will be delighted to discuss it with you. You can call me, Chris Hutchinson on 01905 622 206 or send me an e-mail
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