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.

To increase marketing spend, to freeze it, or cancel it altogether...? Are you finding that the current political climate is making you indecisive? Are you making or NOT making decisions on the business because of fear?

  History is littered with the remains of failed expeditions. From disastrous wagon trails to abandoned Artic missions, there is no shortage of stories of people who, more foolhardy than brave, set out to conquer new territory with little or no planning or expertise.

  Marketing is not a new concept. In fact, marketing as we understand it today actually began as far back as the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Of course, although the basic concept hasn’t changed, the way in which we do marketing today definitely has. One of the more recent innovations is the advent of the part-time marketing director.

If your company doesn’t make a profit, it won’t survive, finance people call this ROI – Return on Investment. Marketing ROI, on the other hand, is a little harder to quantify. While it’s easy to pour over financial statements and see pretty quickly how healthy your business bank account looks, it’s not always as easy to see what your marketing spend is doing for you.