What others are saying... (continued)
U.S. marketing strategists Al Ries and Jack Trout, (authors of "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" and "Positioning"), 1993
"Let's say that for the price of owning a used Chevrolet, which sits meekly in your garage when you don't need it, you could magically have the exclusive use of a Porsche, when, and only when you need it. No brainer, right? Concentrate your resources on leverage, on results, not on overhead. Well, that's the principle of the outsourced, full-service, strategic marketing department. Performance on demand, with no overheads. It's not rocket science, merely good strategic economics."
Gary Phippard, CEO, ASH Technology Marketing, 1997
"Sound business practice suggests that at least five percent of a company's operating budget should be used for promotion and marketing in a "status quo" situation. In periods of business expansion, intense competition, or other changing business parameters, a significantly larger allocation is appropriate, often twenty percent and more."
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accounts, April 1990
"Market research and development required to launch a new product, if it is properly done, can be at least as costly as the product R&D."
Denzil Doyle, Hi-tech business guru, financier, and past CEO, Digital Equipment of Canada
"Market or die. That's the message of the '90s. The business that isn't spending as much as half its time and energy on marketing will lose customers or never gain its full share of its target market...
"The purpose of marketing is to turn products and services into cash."
Jan Norman: "To market, to market", The Orange County Register, CA, reprinted in the Ottawa Citizen August 9, 1997
"Some entrepreneurs see publicity as a cheap way of getting into prospects' minds. "Free advertising" is how they see it. Publicity isn't free. Rule of thumb: 10-20-40. A small public relations agency will want $10,000 a month to promote your product; a medium-size agency, $20,000 a month; and a big-time agency, $40,000 a month."
U.S. marketing strategist Al Ries and Jack Trout, (authors of "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" and "Positioning"), 1993
"...However, in many situations we can achieve tangible, high-value marketing results, even for clients with challenging profile-raising or product-launch objectives, for much less than that.
"We fundamentally believe that any marketing expenditure, whether budgeted or not, should be made only on the basis of probable incremental result. Effective, strategic marketing is an investment. Part of our job is to maximize ROI."
Excerpt from the ASH Technology Marketing "marketing-wizards" "Quick Picture", page 3