Marketers don't always get what they pay for. I recently met with the new regional head of one to one marketing of a world leading brand. One to one is their fancy term for online. This new manager has been brought in from the USA to determine how the millions of dollars they spend annually in this region can deliver a better return.

Mid size companies can learn from the mistakes of larger marketers with larger budgets. Some of the areas of waste this expert has identified in just a few months are listed here:

Marketing budgets managed within silos is inefficient

Some products have budgets too small to make any impact, while others spend more than necessary because they have a larger allocation. Simply by adding an overview of expenditure across the portfolio would deliver a win win result.

Too many contracts with too many large agencies can drive a big spending approach. Marketing managers with little experience are often given average strategic advice and average creative executions. Large agencies are inclined to overspend on media exposure, (with commissions it's an easy earn).

Set marketing KPIs upfront

Smarter marketers know investing in more management time upfront determining objectives and KPIs, with strategic intellect and strong creative can mean a much smaller media spend can deliver greater impact, more leads and higher conversion rates. There is also an inevitable diminishing return factor from spending more, if someone sees your ad two or three times and still hasn't bought, spending more to show them the same proposition four or five times is simply a waste of money.

There is value in retained knowledge

Years of collected data, research results, campaign learnings and customer databases are often ignored with each new project. Every campaign can and should add incremental value to the next. Take a test and learn approach, rather than a big spending one-off hit. This is one of the fastest ways to implement ROI marketing.

Fortunately for my mid sized clients, I've found over the years insight led creative marketing can punch above it's media weight time and again.