The Ups and Downs of Marketing Reality
In the first installment we examined the challenge of expertise in small/medium business marketing teams. Here we pay closer attention to staffing from a workload perspective.
The real world does not always operate according to plan -- marketing must stay nimble and ready to hit the ground running or hit the brakes according to what the market demands.
So in the interest of being realistic lets take a moment to examine allocation of budget and resources in a dynamic marketing environment -- which is the nature of every business environment.
With most small and medium businesses, we find that any given calendar year will witness some key initiatives which have a direct marketing impact:
1) Product Launches
2) Key Industry Events
3) Corporate or Product/Service Repositioning
4) Interactive Initiatives (e.g. site re-launches)
5) Fiscal Close Dates
It’s fairly evident that as these events occur over the fiscal year, spending and resources must ratchet up and down to successfully achieve goals. The challenge for the marketer, then, becomes how to appropriately plan for maximum efficiency. Rarely are market events scheduled conveniently to keep all employees at a steady and full work pace, and to keep all marketing spending evenly parsed throughout the quarter.
For aggressive companies who are looking to increase their market activities to gain an edge over their more dormant competitors, this suggests the challenge of striking the balance between additional investment and additional headcount.
Smart marketing organizations will turn to flexible resources and creative billing processes to forge on ahead. When the alternative is keeping a small in-house staff either running at full tilt or twiddline their thumbs, looking to external resource to "turn on" and "dim" during peaks and valleys makes sound fiscal sense.
Ms. Garza publishes this information to help companies and non-profit organizations market more successfully. If you find it helpful, please share.
And if you would like to include this article on your blog as a guest post, we'd be honored. Please write to us here: info AT apexinsights DOT com.
