put objectives ahead of formulas I have never met a marketing manager or business proprietor who did not want to reduce marketing costs or increase the return on the dollars spent. With that in mind, I will start the year with my first 10 THOUGHTS on how to maximise return on investment in marketing expenditure. […]

put objectives ahead of formulas I have never met a marketing manager or business proprietor who did not want to reduce marketing costs or increase the return on the dollars spent. With that in mind, I will start the year with my first 10 THOUGHTS on how to maximise return on investment in marketing expenditure. This is the first. In some circles, 10% is considered the ‘magic number’ (Vital) in terms of marketing budgets. This reflects the school of thought that considers businesses should spend 10% of revenue on marketing. I am not going to dispute the percentage as much as the notion of having a percentage and the suggestion that marketing budgets should be determined on the basis of revenue. Both propositions are non-sense. There is no magic marketing budget formula. Further, this 10% is often cited in relation to promotion, not marketing, which involves much more than promotion.…