| Regardless
of which brand you work on, your marketing investment is sizeable.
Not to mention, your task of reaching your target customer is
difficult, frequently confusing at times, and even frustrating.
There’s an ongoing quest in the
industry to discover a return-on-investment marketing model
to substantiate your investment and help guide your communications.
There’s a lot of models floating around, but as of yet,
no tried and true method for you to hang your hat on. This
is evidence by a recent ANA survey among senior clients where
87% of the respondents have little confidence in their ability
to predict the impact their marketing efforts have on sales.
Unfortunately, no formula, spreadsheet or algorithm accurately
calculating your marketing ROI exists. Some marketing elements
are analytics, and some are even referred to as science. However,
a large amount of decisions are based on subjective hypotheses
using years of successful experience.
You deserve honest assessments
on every aspect of your business. A third party, independent
point of view may be in order. A partner who can work harmoniously
with your staff and agencies to find answers, rather than
create problems to solve. |
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Agency Compensation/Contract
In the purest form, agency compensation should be based on
partnership, and an element of your agency compensation plan
should be tied to your performance. More importantly, agency
contracts can sometimes be confusing arrangements based on
unrealistic and unjustified labor levels, overhead and expenses.
Simply put, large clients sometimes lose sight of what they’re
paying for. It sometimes takes a seasoned professional who
has been involved in intricate agency contracts to determine
the appropriate cost/value relationship. Tim Marzonie has
proved that client’s can save a lot of money, while
maintaining, or even increasing the effectiveness of your
agency working relationship.
Agencies don’t like surprises, neither
do you. Develop a comfort level with overhead factors, profit
margins and expenses. Cypress Alliance can help you design
compensation and contract methods which will result in cost
savings, and a strengthened agency working relationship.
Agency Process, Structure, Staffing
Agencies are process driven businesses which generate ideas.
Integrating departments and the developing the right staff
are crucial to building a responsive and urgent organization
to meet your needs. High agency turnover is wrought with problems
and has a dramatic effect on your business. Also, the overall
viability and ongoing success of an agency has a direct effect
on the capabilities an agency offers to individual clients.
Recent industry changes have clearly pointed
towards the fact that the “one stop shopping”
mentality under one roof for all marketing services is a somewhat
of a fools errand. Be wary of agencies who continue to merchandise
themselves as “everything to everybody”. As a
large client, you may want an independent point of view to
analyze and improve this operating structure. With the expansion,
fragmentation, and proliferation of technology and media,
a trend is emerging where clients are entertaining small,
entrepreneurial firms with specialized niches.
Field Marketing
If organized properly, agency field marketing can be the difference
which compliments your marketing effort. Based on numerous
examples and a successful track record, Tim Marzonie can honestly
portray himself as an expert in this area. Motivating a decentralized
field staff with a common purpose, adhering to a level of
accountability and developing a clear and ongoing chain of
communication back to the home office are the basics to develop
a successful field marketing effort.
Field marketing organizations are expensive
propositions which clients pay dearly for. Analyzing the true
cost/value relationship may take an insider.
Agency selection
An agency search is hard for everyone. You owe it to yourself
and your agency to exhaust all avenues to arrive at a common
ground. However, in the event you’re prepared for an
agency switch, working with an independent automotive marketing
professional could yield results. Teamed with your search
consultant, another perspective can augment your effectiveness
during the agency selection process.
Media
It doesn’t hurt to perform a periodic check on what
is probably your largest marketing expenditure. Cypress Alliance
can partner with your agency to establish a process of accountability
in the media arena. For instance, securing and reporting media
restitution on a timely basis, conducting pre-posts, and historical
tracking on delivery via post buy analyses. Most importantly,
developing a conduit and forum to constantly explore and bring
you new media ideas.
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