Are You Wasting Money?

Sometimes you pay for what you get and sometimes you just pay too much.

My day-to-day activities can be summed up like this: making sure our marketing strategy stays aligned with our business goals, tactical implementation issues, and of course, measuring all of the above. Sprinkled among my days and evenings may be meetings with executives, advisors, attorneys, and of course calls from vendors.

Given that I am a vp of marketing, I look on vendor calls as both a chance to gather information about a new product or service, and an opportunity to assess a marketing approach. I don’t have time to have a lot of these calls, but if something intrigues me I will try to take a 10-minute call. A large part of my job is to help my company’s sales guys find qualified leads, so I’m always interested in how vendors target me and determine I must be a good prospect.

I should state here that when it comes to marketing pitches I’m way more judgmental than I appear. I was raised to be polite, so I will never tell you I think your product is of little value and you are a borderline idiot, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking it.

Marketing pitches often include the value the product/service brings. At the same time, one wants to leave money on the table so the dance begins between “in the long run it will save you money” and “you get what you pay for.”

This past week, I had two experiences that reminded me you don’t always get more value when you pay more. First, I had a call from a television producer who said they had a great opportunity for our CEO to be interviewed. Of course, I know the company and it will cost $30k+ to be included in a piece no one will ever see.

Second, I met an SVP of marketing who told me her company has licensed one of the most complex/expensive marketing automation vendors available because it has “all the bells and whistles.” Her company also doesn’t have anyone on staff that knows how to use all the software completely, and the software isn’t known for being particularly intuitive. In this SVP’s defense, she inherited the software decision. The same company has also picked one of the most expensive pr firms.

In this case, my quick assessment of the situation has more to do with the company than the marketing executive. Here it is:

1. isn’t assessing value
2. is easily impressed with big names
3. has little understanding of marketing
4. isn’t thoroughly measuring marketing and sales efforts

I also happen to know the company is doing quite well financially, so there isn’t a clear correlation to revenue and embracing value. However, just because your company has excess money doesn’t mean you should spend it unnecessarily.

Whether you’re considering sponsoring a video, licensing marketing automation or hiring a pr firm unless you are assessing the value it will bring, you’re just wasting money.

Comments

[kat]

I think there are never enough opportunities to utilize the phrase, "Just because I'm not telling you you are a borderline idiot, doesn't mean you aren't one."

It crosses every job description and company.
thank you.