a friend has this philosophy about the discount season: "sale seasons are designed such that you spend in order to save. hence, i don't wait for them. i buy regardless if it's the discount season or not - as long as i need it and i have the cash to get what i want."
the same is true with marketing: a lot of people are so concerned with ROI - and i mean the numeric ROI that comes after a thorough understanding of the factors that make up the formula (returns/costs). it doesn't matter whether the costs are high or low - so long as they get a "decent", acceptable ROI.
well.
ROI - when misused - is like spending lots in order to get more.
ROI planning is not bad. but it is only one facet of planning that needs to be taken into account. there are more.
(and as an aside, I should say, what really is ROI? my first bosses impressed on me that ROI is not savings, discounts, nor simple calculations. we went into discussions of NPVs, FVs, cashflows, future value of money, internal rate of return, and all that - things i never really mastered [i doubt if i understood them at all] in order to really calculate the ROI. and yes, this was in the marketing department.)
i guess, to each his/her own with regard to measuring ROI.
and i guess that is also where the problems lie.
a focus on ROI can lead to misuse - and disastrous, contradictory - and perhaps, unintended - results.
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