The thing is, when you go to your doctor or your lawyer or your financial planner, what you get for your “investment” is the service they provide you, not the outcome. You may get better or you may get sicker and you may even die. You may win the lawsuit, you may lose the lawsuit or you may even get counter-sued. You may realize a 10% increase or you may lose 10%. Or you could end up bankrupt. There are no guarantees.

But somehow with marketing, we expect to know exactly what our gain will be as a result of our investment. And it just doesn’t work like that.

A good agency will tell you exactly what you get for your investment – which strategies and tactics they are implementing, what the deliverables will look like and the results you should expect. But ROI, as in if you spend X, you should expect 2X back? No freaking way.

What You Should Expect

You should expect sound and creative strategies, aggressive execution, exceptional service, continuous communications, ongoing analysis of performance, willingness to pivot on a dime, quality deliverables, passion, tenacity, cleverness… and you should expect results.

• If you develop and distribute a news release, you should expect coverage.
• If you pitch a technical paper, you should expect article placement.
• If you coordinate a podcast appearance, you should expect an interview.
• If you post content on LinkedIn, you should expect engagement.
• If you run a search campaign on Google, you should expect leads.
• If you exhibit at a trade show, you should expect visitors.
• If you run an email campaign, you should expect opens and click-throughs.

You get the idea. The publicity may indeed generate exceptional coverage – multiple stories in multiple media outlets that grab the attention of target audiences and put your brand on their radar. And if the timing is right and the prospect also saw your video on LinkedIn and received your email and saw you at the most recent industry trade show where you spoke during the conference, they might pull the trigger and connect with you. And they might become a customer.

So, can I credit the news release with a conversion? How about the video on LinkedIn? Maybe the speaking engagement at the trade show?

A strategized, creative, integrated marketing campaign that is well-thought out and aggressively executed is highly likely to achieve all your most critical goals to build brand awareness, create reputation, engage target audiences, establish partnerships and secure sales. And you can track achievements along the way, assessing deliverables and evaluating their impacts and even analyzing data points wherever possible.

And what you will achieve is momentum — that’s your true marketing ROI. Increased visibility and awareness and perception over time that is rising and forming a trend that is not only recognizable, but also attractive to prospective customers. And that momentum provides your brand with a clear advantage – you are the thought leader, the industry leader, the market leader.