Is there Value in Non-ROI Marketing Efforts?

Here's Your Guide to Marketing Tactics that Don’t Have a Direct ROI

First, we must understand Return on Investment (ROI) and the measurement of activities. 

For example, we go to a trade show - spending $12,000 on booth materials, collateral, and advertising at the event. We generate 15 leads, of which 5 close for an average of $5,000 in annual recurring revenue(arr). That trade show would then have an ROI of 108% (remember this is revenue not profit). 

Next, would be non-ROI efforts, which can often be to the tune of brand building. 

Brand Building Efforts 🧱

Activities like brand awareness campaigns, brand stories that evoke emotion instead of a call to action, and events that are more about shaping your brand's identity, culture, and perception among your target audience.

Relationship Building Efforts 🫱🏻‍🫲🏽

Hosting events without the direct intention of increasing sales, webinars, and creating valuable content such as blogs, videos, and podcasts in the hope of providing value in education, and in turn building meaningful connections with your audience by fostering trust, and increasing customer sentiment towards the brand.

Market Positioning Efforts 🎯

Collaboration with influencers, sponsoring industry events and local sports teams, and showcasing thought leadership through whitepapers, case studies, or reports can elevate your brand's position in the market and provide subject matter expertise.

Through the efforts listed above, which is obviously not the full suite of ideas, but maybe some jumpstarts to ideate and strategize around - the ability to create great content that provides subliminal positive brand messaging will have no direct impact on ROI, but surely allows for more sales to take place.

A balanced marketing strategy combines both ROI-driven efforts and non-ROI strategies to achieve intentional growth and sustainable success. While ROI-focused tactics deliver the Profit-and-Loss immediate results and revenue, non-ROI strategies lay the foundation for long-term brand equity, customer relationships, and market leadership.

By incorporating non-ROI marketing tactics into your overall strategy and leveraging data-driven insights to measure their impact, you can find the measured value, strengthen your brand presence, and create lasting connections with your audience, all while softly building the net reach of your funnel.

Overall, non-ROI marketing efforts are indeed worth investing in and can be fun (let’s remember to have fun in the day-to-day of our livelihoods), provided they align with our goals, reach our target audience, and connect with our long-term vision. 

Embracing these strategies alongside ROI-driven initiatives can lead to a well-rounded marketing approach that drives both immediate returns and sustained growth. ☝🏼🤓