Short-term vs. long-term thinking — Marketing goals impacting business objectives.
One of the pivotal goals for any business is to prosper and to achieve this one needs to be able to make money today, as well as in the future. It is important to balance both the short-term and long-term goals.
Let’s look at a simple scenario here. Because of an increase in the price of raw materials, the electronics manufacturer chooses to reduce their investment in advertising instead of increasing their prices. The choice is tough. By hiking up the prices could mean losing on current customers whom we know as price-sensitive or less loyal. While on the other hand, reducing investment in advertising will reduce the company’s ability to attract new customers, which can result in a dip in long-term sales.
It's vital to know that every short-term decision needs to work toward achieving a long-term goal and to be in the business.
In order to be able to convert prospective buyers into customers in the future, businesses will require to build brand awareness and positive perceptions today. Marketing can impact business objectives in all its form.
Your marketing can work in one of two ways: You can think and act in the short term using all of the seeds you’ve grown, chasing quick returns, or you can invest for the long term and grow your audience. The choice is always yours.
Each time a user interacts with your products or company their perception is influenced. This could include online reviews, mentions on social media, your marketing efforts through advertising, etc. It is possible to build on the feeling of familiarity with your brand and its recognition and encourage people to choose your products over the competitors. An ad seen today can trigger sales in the near future while also ensuring future sales to come.
Some marketers, for example, prefer to limit their strategy to the end of the customer journey and might focus mostly on ads targeted to people who have a preformed opinion of the brand or are ready to make a purchase and are therefore more likely to convert into a customer. Other marketers could possibly focus on the beginning of the customer journey (for example, awareness ads). It's different for all. You choose, you make.
To end it, marketing long as well as short-term thinking directly impacts your business objectives. You must have heard this line — Farm the Future. The savviest marketers focus on covering the entire consumer journey as long as it’s profitable.
