Introduction Every business wants to grow, but not always for the reasons you might think. For many business owners, the ultimate purpose of growth is to place their company in an attractive position to sell. Because this is the goal of many of the business leaders we partner with at The Marketing Centre, it’s also become an important consideration for our Marketing Directors.

 We have published an eBook titled Making Marketing ROI (ROMI) Work for Your Business - A step by step guide for business owners. Return on Marketing Investment is something we are passionate about and we spend a lot of time ensuring that the businesses we work with are seeing a return on their marketing spend. We have compiled a whole lot of this info into an eBook that is in an easy-to-read and download format.

Marketing can be like gambling. Possibly not what you’d expect to hear from a marketing company, but please bear with us! The gambling analogy goes like this: "Your marketing budget is your stake, the tables and slots at the casino are your marketing channels, and new customers - falling into your lap like golden coins from a slot machine – are your prize. A professional gambler will not be seduced by the flashing lights, the big headline numbers and the dealer’s spiel, because professional gambling is not glamour, it is mathematics – it is less about unknown risk and more about predictable return."

How and where are you selling your product or services? This is your route to market. And it's just as important - if not more important, than your product itself. Your route to market needs to work for your customer, and the best or right one, is the one that makes it easiest for a new customer to find you... if you get this wrong they'll go straight to your competitors and buy from them instead. In todays marketplace it is easy to get left behind or put yourself in danger by sticking to only what you've always done or known. It's a good idea to take new opportunities, find new channels or routes to market and gain more market share.

Who’s the best driver in the world: Rally star Sébastien Ogier or F1 champion Lewis Hamilton? Trick question. Both are viable contenders, but only for a given value of “best”. Their driving styles are worlds apart. F1 is a matter of speed, precision and perfect understanding of the vehicle. A rally champion may not hit the same raw m.p.h., but they need to drive with flamboyance and a will to improvise. There’s a fundamental difference in mindset and skill set involved, and a champion behind one wheel may end up in the middle of the pack behind another. There’s a lot more to the choice than: “well, they both drive fast, don’t they?” So it goes with many things - including sales and marketing.