Iain Seers is the CEO at RightSpend Iain has over 25 years in the advertising, production and consulting industry, managing various marketing disciplines across different business sectors. At a time where even the UK Government has a view on marketing spend, Iain holds the view that a long term advantage can be gained from analysing your costs with intelligence.
Whether we are going into a recession or not, one thing we can be sure of is that we have tough times ahead. But this is not inherently bad for your business. Being forced to scrutinise your marketing costs and get more bang for your budget is a good strategy.
There are countless cases of global brands spending wisely to not only survive, but thrive from downturns. So how can you adapt and thrive?
The need for analytics
Most companies allocate budgets according to historical levels and priorities, not according to effectiveness or company strategy. In fact, around a third of global brands aren’t comparing their marketing spend to any benchmarks at all.
Something that fundamentally has to change.
You don’t want to spend more on marketing than you should, or discover that a campaign costs you 20% more than others in the same market.
Accurate and up to date data, that includes asset costs, staffing rates and deliverables ensures you have full visibility into your marketing costs and helps you to make informed decisions around agency, campaign and budgets.
Data and analytics insights also play a pivotal role in helping to build more transparent relationships and engagements with your agencies. Negotiation is part of the everyday, but data driven negotiations enable you to be clear in your requirements and set realistic expectations.
The need for transparency
In tough times we need transparency so marketing spend can be justified.
So many agencies talk about being transparent. Whilst many are championing trust and fairness within their relationships, some do this better than others. They may be offering transparency in some areas, there is always some off-limits information, and none of it is impartial.
Now is the time for full transparency.
With full transparency you are enabled to make better-informed decisions, with clarity around where your agency fees, contracts and staffing plans sit alongside the benchmark. Asking the right questions to get the full picture from your agency is vital.
The need for data
Without data you can’t make informed decisions. The key is having the right data.
Data enables you to identify where you can make efficiencies and savings, have clarity around what your agency is charging and should be charging, and also benchmarks your spend against others.
The right data can also help highlight the questions you should be asking, and this in turn can assist with getting all your teams aligned across the business; whether in marketing, procurement or finance.
Importantly during this time of tough business conditions in parts of the world, data can help give you a clear vision of the global market.
Now is the time to market with intelligence and grow your company with judgment. Where can you save money whilst still putting yourselves ahead of the competition?