Marketing – art or analytics?

Truth be told, I’m not really a marketer; not in the traditional sense anyhow. Traditionally (or stereotypically) marketers are considered to be left-brain, artistic types who are full of creative ideas. That’s not me.

Sure, I have my creative moments, everyone does, but for the most part my strengths are more analytical than artistic. In fact, I might make a better accountant than marketer. Or would I?

Even though I’m often (very often) creatively challenged, I’ve been able to hold my own in the world of marketing by learning to compensate for my lack of creativity. What I’ve learned is that following a few simple rules can take even the least creative marketer (marketer want-to-be to some) a long, long way. And those rules are:

Measure everything

To say I’m reluctant to invest in marketing programs that can’t be measured is an understatement. I realize some marketing can’t be measured but most organizations can’t afford that type of marketing anyway.

Optimize constantly

You’ll never get as much out of your marketing budget as you could. If your vision (as it should be) is to create a fully optimized marketing program that consistently generates an increasing return on your marketing investments, you’ll always have room for improvement. So, never ever settle for the results you’re getting today.

Systematize relentlessly

Even though you’ll likely never develop a 100% optimized marketing program you will (or should) be able to get most of your marketing on “auto-pilot” to some degree. If you don’t, the time it takes you or your team to execute your “normal” marketing initiates will prevent you from taking your marketing to the next level.

Tangible results are all that count

At the end of the day, upper management is concerned with the bottom line. Sure, they’ll get all excited about those ultra “cool” or “entertaining” programs when you first present it to them, but the minute that program bombs, you’re on your own. So, you’d better keep the focus where it should be. I think you get the picture.

I fairly certain my rules won’t get your creative juices flowing. But, they can work wonders if your goal is to get some revenue flowing.