One of the most frequent challenges facing today's marketing department is the justification of budgets and marketing ROI - both in the short term and long term. And marketing ROI is simply about overall marketing performance.
Marketing performance is the pursuit of marketing excellence in order to achieve better business results - greater revenues, an improved bottom line and strategic competitive advantage. Our clients achieve better business results by assessing their overall marketing management and implementation processes. These can include planning, organizational structure, management and control systems. Each of these critical factors is supported by our Performance Management practice. In short, we help our clients get the most from their marketing budgets and resources.
Marketing Audits
Marketing strategy and implementation play a significant role in the overall achievement of an organizations objectives. But marketing is not a simple or trivial pursuit - despite the many misconceptions and perceptions that exist (see Tin Men or Glengary Glen Ross). Sometimes, results are not what is expected and competitors succeed despite seemingly weaker offerings.
Marketing Audits are systematic, disciplined assessments of marketing effectiveness and impact - relative to the external environment, internal capabilities, and the strategies and programs in place.
If your organization has experienced any of the following symptoms, an audit may provide you with the information and knowledge needed to make changes.
The | Marketing | Works offers three levels of audit services:
- Tools Only
Many companies choose to conduct marketing audits internally. For those organizations, TMW can provide a wide variety of audit tools. Our evaluation frameworks, checklists and questionnaires reflect best practices and 20 years of experience in developing and implementing marketing strategies and programs. Tools are available on a one-time usage basis or can be purchased outright.
- Turnkey Audits
TMW also provides comprehensive external audit services. Our audits are designed to address the specific questions or issues facing our clients. We have conducted broad comprehensive audits on brands and overall marketing performance and more targeted, specific audits on communication materials and sales territory allocations.
Every audit uses our proprietary, best practice-based tools and comes with a comprehensive assessment report.
- Assisted Implementation
For those organizations that seek to conduct an audit internally but require or desire an external - objective perspective, we offer a hybrid process - assisted audit implementation. We provide you with the required audit tools, train your audit team, review the results and participate in the final audit presentation. You get the best of both worlds - effective, proven tools and assistance from T|M|W while still conducting most of the audit data gathering.
Marketing Performance Systems
Effective marketing management requires the ability to monitor, control and adjust marketing programs over time. Many organizations have difficulty in evaluating marketing strategy and programs due to ineffective (or non-existent) processes for performance monitoring. We can help your organization to design and implement marketing performance "systems" that allow you to effectively monitor your critical marketing strategy or program variables.
Effective marketing performance delivers significant benefits. Poorly performing strategies or activities can be modified or eliminated. Effective or successful strategies can be enhanced, expanded or leveraged. As a result, marketing effectiveness is improved, often from a revenue and cost perspective.
In addition, our methodologies do not require expensive software implementations. Our methodology and process design allows us to work primarily with data readily available in most organizations.
Brand Management or Brand Process Design
Strong brands are well "managed" brands. As part of our performance offering, TMW can design or optimize brand management processes and systems. Our clients are usually concerned with the effectiveness of brand processes within their organizations. This situation is particularly difficult for global marketers or those with complex brand architectures, multiple product lines or multiple divisions.
TMW can assess your current processes and design an optimum brand management or brand stewardship system. Our added value comes from direct "hands-on" brand management experience and over 20 years of providing counsel to leading private and public sector marketing organizations.
Training
Whether you require a single course for a small group or extensive training for your marketing teams, business units, or divisions, TMW on-site or off-site seminars offer you significant flexibility and exceptional convenience. Exclusive training at your site provides a focused, cost effective approach to improving the skills and productivity of your professional staff. All seminars can be customized to meet your organizations specific requirements. For more information on our special training programs visit our Packaged Services section.
Our marketing performance practice also includes human performance. We provide custom training and mentoring services for clients enhancing marketing understanding and knowledge within their organizations. Click here for more information.
Agency / Supplier Evaluation
Many companies rely on external agencies for marketing implementation services. These relationships often represent significant budget and resource commitments as well as critical success (or risk!) factors. Many clients - agency relationships deteriorate because of the lack of effective performance monitoring and feedback mechanisms - outside of frustrating and stressful crisis communications.
Our agency performance evaluation services help our clients maximize agency partner relationships. From simple process tools and forms, through to comprehensive agency evaluation systems, we can help you create a positive agency environment and to get the highest possible return for your investment. We are also very experienced at assessing the value - and cost of in-house services versus pure or hybrid outsourcing models.
Agency Search
Finding and effectively working with an outside supplier can be more complex than a traditional employer / employee relationship. There are two factors affecting the value and effectiveness of an agency, the agency’s experience, skills and capability to deliver the required services, and an appropriate match of agency / client cultures, values and relationship dynamics. Our search process addresses these key challenges.
The selection of a marketing services agency can be an onerous and subjective "shot in the dark" exercise, with uncertain outcomes. TMW provides comprehensive search services, ranging from identification of potential service providers through to turnkey search engagements, including contract negotiations as required.
By working with us, you can increase the probability of finding an ideal partner, ultimately saving time and money. With our best practice process already established, and our investment in an up-to-date agency database, we can quickly establish search criteria and identify a long list of appropriate firms. Our value added comes from our experience as a service provider and a purchaser of agency services in a variety of project situations.
