Toxic Traps Marketing Organizations Should Avoid (Part 1 of 3)

Dave Greves, co-founder and leader of Faction Media, a Denver-based marketing and advertising agency, is an award-winning strategist and producer of interactive marketing programs. I conducted a Q&A with him to uncover some key insights about marketing in today's tough -- and varied -- marketing environment. 

One of the best points Dave makes is about the importance of quantifying results. Too often neither marketers nor publicists want to see the numbers. Yet that old advice about numbers not lying? Well, it’s still true. Here’s part one of my conversation with Dave:

Leslie: In this slow economy, what are the top three mistakes that marketing agencies need to avoid?

Dave:  Denying new approaches to traditional assignments is the first mistake -- companies need to be flexible these days or they will get left behind. Sure you’ve achieved success at a minimal digital investment but what successes may lie beyond that? It’s varied across customer segments as well as verticals and industries.  Keep your eyes open. 

Secondly, settling for mediocrity is the primal sin of marketing. The non-spoken “good enough” based on traditional standards is a statement that doesn’t sit well with those that track performance down to the level of keyword conversion.  The inability of savvy marketers to recognize the relevance of this level of detail is heresy to the digital marketing community.  The ability to measure interactions down to the most detailed level yields definitive insight regarding your targets and their psycho and socio-graphical profiles.

And finally, undervaluing the use of analytical measurement of your marketing campaigns is a problem. Many marketers simply collect the analytical data from their campaigns and never act on it. Campaign analytics are not something to be taken lightly.  If properly valued throughout the organization, they should be a guiding light that drives insightful creative and “executional” directives across all mediums. Of course to draw actionable conclusions you must know what and how to measure the activity your campaigns generate and then align your metrics with your business goals. But those organizations that fall short of this concept should be held accountable by senior marketing management.  Any element of a campaign that is not quantifiable, or does not yield valid quantitative insight, should be eliminated from the marketing mix because it does not provide any value to your organization. 

Read Part 2 of this Q&A to find out why it's important to invest in marketing opportunities in a down economy.