ROI and Coupon Monsters

"What is the ROI of a phone system?"

This was in response to a discussion at the local Utah AMA event around the payoff of social, local and mobile (SoLoMo) marketing.  I believe the point was that at some point, certain technologies simply become part of the business fabric - you can't operate without them.  However, from a marketing perspective the panelists were clear: If you don't know the objective and what success/failure looks like then it is easy to chase the next shiny object.  And this led to the best quote of the evening: "I hate lazy, crappy marketing."

Some key points...

1. ROI should be used as a relative measure to compare alternatives, not the absolutes of a single event.   It answers the question, where should I spend my next dollar?
2. Discounting should be tested carefully before deploying since you can't undo the effects of rewarding that kind of behavior.
3. The trend is toward direct-to-consumer marketing where it is "easier" to measure the impact of the spend.   This is a not so subtle shift from brand marketing to sales; the long-term effects of which are unknown.