The Message Is As Important As the Messenger

In times like these, there is a tendency to attempt to cut costs… not surprising. What is surprising is that much of this cost cutting is focused on the creative product and its execution.

The most strategically developed and carefully placed media plan will fall short of its expectations, if the creative product is below standards. Remember that the Message is just as important, to the outcome of your marketing, as the messenger (the media) you have chosen to deliver it.

Speaking generally, media costs are 75%-80% of total campaign cost in a typical marketing effort. That means that, even minor cuts in your creative and production costs will yield very little in real dollar savings. What it can do is harm the effectiveness of your message to the point where the campaign, as a whole is impaired to the point where the media expenditure is wasted.

I suggest looking to smarter, more efficient media allocations to produce savings, since it is the larger portion of over-all campaign costs. You’ll save more and sacrifice less. Zig Ziglar, trainer “par excellence”, had a saying that went, “I would rather pay a little too much for something, than a little too little, because when I’ve paid a little too much I’ve wasted a little, when I pay a little too little, I’ve wasted it all.”

Consider how important the creative and production elements are to your campaign, before deciding to move forward with cutting budgets. You may save on the budget, but you may “waste it all” in the process.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.