Employing Six Sigma in Marketing

A recent presentation by Keving Clancy, Ph.D who is chairman and CEO of Copernicus Marketing consulting argued that far too much of what is spent on marketing is not yielding any real results.  Citing a statistic from the 2005 Harvard Business Review Clancy reported that a 100% increase in marketing expenditures returns only a 1% increase in sales.  At face value this type of arguement seems patently rediculous.  But what it reveals, Clancy argues is that many companies are marketing in the wrong way to the wrong people.  He contends that companies should apply the same Six Sigma strategies that have revolutionized their businesses to their marketing.  Marketers should has for more than one idea with regard to positioning statements and concepts rather than go for the first idea that appears solid.  This seemingly introduces a great deal of inefficiency into the braintorming portion of marketing, but ultimately, according to Clancy, allows for much higher end yields.  adjab.com reports:

Dumb targeting and no positioning yield Zero Sigma results.