Adweek recently reported that “Fresh data suggests brand building has fallen on the growing list of priorities for CMOs, as they are increasingly under the gun to prove their work drives revenue growth.
A survey conducted by NewtonX for ADWEEK found that close to half (48%) of executive-level marketers say their primary objective is to increase revenue, while just a quarter (24%) cited building long-term brand awareness.”
Here are some steps to make sure your advertising campaign is revenue-first focused and will generate the profit you need to grow your business and scale in the long run.
Step 1: Know your benchmarks for profitability and make sure you can measure or quantify them.
I have had so many companies approach us for help with their advertising without really knowing when and where they make a profit. They will say things like “We just want to run a campaign and see what happens.” I know before the first ad starts, they are not going to be pleased with the results. One of the main reasons is they don’t have s system in place to look at ROI on a granular level. The companies that maximize revenue from their campaigns know average conversion ratio by media outlet, average cost per lead, lifetime value of customers, and typical time from contact to close.
The first step to making money is to know when you are losing money. Make sure your KPIs are not vanity metrics but are actual benchmarks based on cost per response, average conversion ratios and your current sales system.
Step 2: Your sales system should be a directive for your advertising campaign.
How do you sell? What is your sales system from the first touch of an inbound response, lead or opportunity to the last touch of conversion? Are there days of the week and times of day when you maximize your conversion ratios?
That should be a roadmap to guide you as to what media mix you use and how to implement a campaign that is revenue-focused first. There should not be a disconnect where your Marketing department thinks it’s doing a great job, but your sales team disagrees. Meet with your top salespeople. Ask them how, when and who converts best. These are baseline targets that the advertising program should be built around. For example, the Army National Guard spent $26.5 million on a NASCAR sponsorship that only generated 20 recruit leads but failed to add a single recruit. Marketing was misguided on who NASCAR fans are and how likely they were to become recruits. Sales and marketing disconnect will drain you fast.
Step 3: Pivot fast towards profit.
We have found most campaigns do not need six months to see if they are going to win in the ROI department. That is why it’s critical for your advertising agency or marketing department to have clear benchmarks for profitability for every individual media type, and these should be analyzed and refined on a weekly or bi-weekly basis—not quarterly.
Digital media usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to fine tune, but the refinement of creative, keywords and strategy should happen every week or two to limit waste. The same with linear TV, Radio, podcasting and CTV.
We see immediate results with Linear TV, Radio and Podcasting. We know within 2 weeks if a specific show, station or network is going to be viable. The outlets that say you need 12 weeks to build brand awareness are focused on their internal sales goals—not yours. Their sales staff has been trained to get you to spend the maximum amount of money and try to keep you spending no matter if it’s working for you or not. A good agency or marketing director can sniff out failure fast and refine the media mix to the outlets that can create actual ROI.
Results-driven advertising is advertising that actually grows your revenue. In a world of confusing data, constant change, and AI noise, getting your marketing organized and working efficiently is one of the smartest investments you can make.
