An advertising campaign without marketing is just wishful thinking

It is no wonder that about R50 billion is wasted on misguided marketing every year in South Africa because there is still far too much of a tendency to rush into advertising campaigns, PR, promotions and all sorts of other marketing efforts without having the proper checks and balances in place.

And checks and balances is what marketing is all about. It's as simple as that. A checklist just to make sure that when a company spends big money on an advertising campaign or PR promotion or sales effort, that it is measurable and that all the elements of marketing are working in unison towards a successful outcome and not conflicting with each other.

There are a lot of people in the marketing industry who say things like "advertising is not measurable" or "PR is not measurable". These people are charlatans and don't know what they are talking about. Throw them out of your office.

Quite simply, if marketing is applied from the start, then everything is measurable. The only time one can't measure any marketing element is when checks and balances are not put in place from the start. It's a bit like trying to work out what the fuel consumption is for your car when you come to the end of the trip and you can't remember how much petrol you put in at the start or what your mileage was.

Marketing is all about checking the mileage and filling the tank right at the start.

Far too much marketing is knee-jerk stuff these days. Just about a big idea and nothing else. Just about an advertising campaign and nothing else.

Marketing is the package that holds everything together. Without it things like advertising and PR just become wishful thinking.