Making Marketing Accountable

Marketing accountability should be a priority, but in reality there is a lot of talk on the matter, and less action.   Given access to large corporate budgets, marketing staff have promised returns on investment and increased market share.  However, the evolution of the dot.com era has contributed to the fact that marketing staff can no longer get away with promising big results without quantifiably measuring them.

• MikeL says:
• If, as stated above, "marketing plays a paramount role in the running of a business", then the decision to outsource such a business-critical function to a third-party should be considered extremely carefully. There is a view that "a problem shared is a problem doubled"!
  
  Outsourcing brings with it a large number of risks, 40 of which are documented at the following link: http://outsourced-logistics.com/operations_strategy/outlog_story_6639/
  
  Key amongst these are:
  - the time and resources needed to bring any service provider/agency up to speed, keep them up to date and manage them on a day-to-day basis
  - the inevitable erosion of skills within your own business
  - the difficulty in maintaining effective, supportive relationships with other internal departments (Sales, the Board, customer services, etc.)
  - how to embody in any contract the necessary flexibility to respond quickly to market and/or strategy changes
  - who decides/controls marketing strategy for your company
  
  Most business owners want an internal marketing department capable of developing and implementing marketing plans that support the business objectives. An alternative approach, therefore, is to invest in upskilling your own marketing department... giving them the structure, skills and confidence to do it themselves. That way the investment is retained within your business (in the form of new capability), rather than becoming an ongoing expenditure with a third-party.
  
  Mike Last is a Marketing Coach with SPAN Coaching Ltd.