A trip down Nostalgia Avenue. In 1982 advertising agencies didn’t believe in taking their own medicine. They still don’t. We did – and it worked.
I’m only showing you this because my old partner Glenmore Trenear-Harvey sent it to me. And because it still looks pretty good (if hardly original).
We ran ads like this all the time. If you click on it you can read the copy. I think Glenmore came up with the check-list. I think I wrote the copy. I know it worked.
There’s something I really love about direct marketing. When done properly, your profits exceed your costs. What are the reasons why so many people – especially nowadays where the media choices are so wide – ignore a field of practice that gives you certainty your marketing is working? And why do people persist with marketing and advertising choices where nobody has a clue if it worked or not? Hidden beneath the surface must be something that continues to work – it’s my guess that if they stopped what they were doing altogether, they would make more money as most of the spend simply loses money.
I honestly think there are two reasons 1. They don’t like to consider the possibilityy that they might be found out. 2. Sheer ignorance.
Here are the findings from a fairly recent report based on a study of thousands of firms:
90% of marketers are not trained in Marketing Performance & Marketing ROI
67% don’t believe marketing ROI requires a financial outcome
64% use Brand Awareness as their top marketing ROI KPI
58% place “Likes”, “Tweets”, “Clicks” and/or “CTR” in their Top 5 marketing ROI KPIs
31% believe measuring audience reached is marketing ROI
“Every Tom, Dick & Harry is a Marketer” lacking scientific and financial knowledge.
– Fournaise Marketing Group Global Marketing Effectiveness Program Report, 2014