We all understand the importance of having a balanced financial portfolio, but what about our marketing portfolio? If we invest the bulk of our marketing in limited activities, we are putting ourselves at risk of achieving a less than desirable return on our investment.
While in finance we want to balance risk and return, in marketing we want to balance 3 crucial elements – control, cost and credibility. Look at the diagram below.
Control Cost & Credibility Table |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Control | Cost | Credibility | |
| Advertising | High | High | Low |
| Referrals | Medium | Low | Medium |
| Public Relations | Low | Low | High |
Each of these 3 areas has varied degrees of control, cost and credibility.
For example with advertising, we are pretty much in total control of when, where and how we place an ad. Of course we also have to pay more to have this control. But how much credibility do we gain by telling others we are great?
If we’re to rely heavily on advertising, chances are we could very quickly deplete our marketing budget before we reach our goals.
On the other hand if were to look at low cost items with high credibility, like PR and to some extent Referral marketing, we have very little control on when, where and how it occurs.
In this instance we could run out of TIME before we reach our goals.
Therefore, divide your budget up in 2 ways.
1. Allocate a lot of your marketing dollars to savvy advertising and promotions (the key here is savvy)!
2. Allocate more of your marketing TIME to referral marketing and PR activities.
Don’t forget. Just like your financial portfolio – it’s important to measure your return on investment on all your marketing activities as well!
Cidnee Stephen is a Duct Tape Marketing Coach located in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Find out more at www.strategiesforsuccess.ca.
