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Archive for the ‘ROI’ Category« Previous Entries Next Entries »The Positive Side of Smaller Marketing BudgetsTuesday, October 13th, 2009 
Many marketers have been feeling the strain this year as their budgets and resources have come under increased pressure and increased scrutiny from senior management. But achieving more with less is not impossible, and can actually have some positive effects… Budget cuts and recessionary demands have resulted in more businesses focusing on marketing accountability and measurement, as well as improved collaboration between marketing and other organizational departments (i.e. finance), according to the fifth annual Marketing Accountability Survey. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Marketing Management Analytics (MMA) study spoke to 95 senior-level marketers over the summer. Although the small sample size should be noted, some interesting findings include:
Almost half (46%) of respondents are satisfied with the impact of their marketing efforts on sales/ROI, twice as high a response as last year. The survey also highlighted a greater appreciation of marketing efforts by senior management. To find out more about effective marketing strategies in a recession, please click here to read our free e-book.
Market Research In A RecessionWednesday, July 29th, 2009  It won’t come as a big shock that the UK market research sector, like the majority of other industry sectors, isn’t recession proof and has been hit, at least to some extent, by the current recession. The key takeaways from a recent ‘State of the industry survey’ by RSM are as follows:
This particular piece of research got us talking internally and we came up with the following trends that we have seen within our world at B2B International: 1. There are less market research specialists in corporates than ever before Gone are the days when every corporate had a market research manager. Increasingly we are being commissioned by non-market research specialists — marketing managers, product managers, marketing directors and the like. This means that the briefs we receive are sometimes woolly and impossible to achieve (especially in timescales and costs). Timings are a real bugbear within B2B International as we never want to compromise quality although our clients often seem to be being leaned on by their management in terms of timing leaving unrealistic timescales to collect and analyse the findings. However, the recession has resulted in companies becoming keener to understand the pressures their customers are facing – a greater recognition of the interdependence of theirs and their customers’ success. 2. Every job is put out to a long tender list Gone are the days when we used to visit a client to take a brief and proposals were submitted from just three companies. Nowadays clients bash their briefs out to (sometimes) dozens of agencies. The competition has never been fiercer and prices as a result have been driven down with clients sometimes placing too much emphasis on cost rather than quality 3. We need to be increasingly imaginative about research methods Gone are the days when we used to do surveys based on a simple research method. Increasingly we are given complex problems that have to be answered with a range of different research tools. It is not unusual for us nowadays to mix online surveys with telephone surveys and qualitative with quantitative. 4. We are required to be strategic consultant’s as well as data collectors Gone are the days when market researchers simply researched a market. Today, in business to business markets we are expected to be familiar with all the business and marketing frameworks that traditionally were the ground of McKinsey and Bain. 5. We are increasingly required to use multidisciplinary teams Gone are the days when a sole researcher could carry out a market research project from beginning to end on their own. B2B International has brought together a diverse team with specialist skills ranging from pure research backgrounds through to statisticians, computer programmers and consultants that can act in an advisory capacity upon completion of a project As usual, during any recession, research providers who supply quality and value throughout the difficult times will emerge stronger and fitter. However, with organizations continually looking to measure ROI on every pound spent, is the competitive landscape for business to business research changed forever? The ROI Of Market Research – New PodcastTuesday, May 26th, 2009
ROI is an oft-repeated business mantra for any kind of major strategic investment, and market research is certainly no different from other business expenditure in this respect. Market intelligence studies are often commissioned with laudable intentions – principal amongst these being the development and growth of the organisation concerned. However, for all the lofty ambitions and expectation that may be placed behind a market research project, without careful planning and management, the end result can all-to-easily disappoint. A study may fail to target the original objectives from the market research brief or the report may be too far divorced from the actions that will effect real change within an organisation. In effect, the question that companies should ask when commissioning market research is "am I getting my money’s worth?" – A query that should be asked of major investments at any time, not least during a recession. In B2B International’s latest podcast, we broach these very issues: How can we ensure market research delivers value for money? How can this be verified or measured? And, perhaps more fundamentally, what is the value of market research in the first instance? The podcast is based upon a white paper written by Paul Hague and Julia Cupman of B2B International entitled "Making effective business decisions: Measuring & maximising the return on investment of market research". Links to both versions of this paper can be found below:
New White Paper – Maximizing the ROI of Market ResearchWednesday, January 28th, 2009
How many times have you heard the question, “Tell me why I should spend this money on market research – what is the payback?” Sometimes knowing yourself that market research can answer the questions that matter to your business is not enough; you may need to justify its value to your colleagues. This brand new white paper examines how to maximize the return on investment (ROI) of market research, demonstrating:
To read the white paper in full, click here. Words of Wisdom When the Going Gets ToughMonday, January 26th, 2009
The lead article in last week’s BtoB – the magazine for marketing strategists – encouraged organizations to concentrate their spend on areas where there is a real ROI. Focused, frugal and relentless – not just with marketing, but in all operations – are the buzzwords being bandied about by various industry experts, who all have some words of wisdom to offer. Whilst some degree of cost-cutting may be necessary to improve organizational efficiency, what will really differentiate between the companies that are merely good and those that are really great, will be how smart and how strategic their marketers are. Segmentation of your customers has long been known to be a critical way of ensuring you are best serving your key customer groups, and one expert encourages the use of market research in creating value for your segments. Don’t forget that your customers are also likely to be feeling the economic pinch. Help them by creating innovative products that will enable them to save money and be more efficient during a recession. You must continue to market yourself, but do so by managing budgets effectively – be smart about spending money but do not disappear from view altogether. By focusing on opportunities for growth now, companies will be in a much stronger position for recovery and growth when the economy starts to improve. The positive result of intelligent marketing in tricky times is, of course, that organizations will emerge on the other side much leaner, much more relevant and much more customer-savvy. To read the BtoB article in full, click here. « Previous Entries Next Entries » |
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