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Marketing Recruitment March 2010
Marketing News |
12/03/2010
Businesses are under no illusions over the importance of marketing their goods and services - the importance of brand promotions is no secret in any sector of the economy.
Successful campaigns can be the difference between greater profit margins and potential ruin, so this is surely not an area where reckless spending can be justified.
Given the availability of modern business intelligence and analytics, there really should be no excuses for failing to monitor and evaluate marketing campaigns.
But despite the thousands - in some cases millions - poured in to marketing budgets, many firms seem content to ignore business-critical issues such as return on investment.
A new benchmark study conducted jointly by the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Deloitte raises doubts about the suitability of some ad spending, revealing that many marketing campaigns are simply not accountable.
The study found that fewer than ten per cent of firms, both domestically and internationally, set clear key performance indicators for their every marketing initiative.
With direction, purpose and effective consumer targeting are essential for all campaigns, businesses should at the very least be gathering and monitoring feedback, assessing click-through rates and attributing income to particular promotions.
But for 19 per cent of businesses surveyed, clear accountability for strategic marketing initiatives has never been established. Another 56 per cent claim their ability to measure campaign performance is 'non-existent' or 'basic'.
These figures are astonishing given the severity of the global economic downturn. Business leaders have either unwavering faith in the abilities of their marketing teams, or a penchant for pouring money down black holes.
So when David Thorp, director of research and professional development at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, described the figures as "concerning", he was making something of an understatement.
"As we now plan for growth, managers must put more effort into establishing true accountability for customer investment," he stated.
Sure enough, this should be considered an essential aspect of any campaign, but are enough businesses listening?
Latest recruitment figures suggest that firms are becoming more willing to spend on marketing - not that this is justification for failing to monitor consumer response, of course.
The Ashdown Group Jobs Index reports that the number of marketing vacancies increased by 9.66 per cent during February alone, pointing to a resurgence in the sector.
John Lynes, director at the firm, revealed that marketing had outperformed all other sectors over the past six months, commenting: "There has been a 27.5 per cent increase in the number of jobs advertised in February 2010 versus July in 2009.
"There is a war for market share raging and the companies with the greatest marketing budgets are winning."
This is undoubtedly the case - the only concern is that if they fail to hold their marketing campaigns accountable, it will be impossible to justify further marketing recruitment spending.
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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