Hold that angry e-mail – those aren’t my words, but those of my favorite direct marketing curmudgeon, Denny Hatch, in the latest edition of his e-mail newsletter, Business Common Sense. To quote Denny:
“… the world of general agencies has somehow conned the dumb little yuppie MBA corporate brand managers into believing that it’s okay to spend millions and then rely on the analytics and electronics of third parties to guess whether the money is being well spent. The situation is sick, sick, sick.”
He concludes:
“The answer: fire your incompetent general agency and hire on a direct marketer, who will put a system in place solidly based on measurable ROI rather than smoke and mirrors.”
One of the things I like best about Hatch (besides his exhorting clients to hire direct marketing agencies) is that he is a treasure chest of anecdotes about marketing in general. This issue is no exception. Well worth the read.