Every entrepreneur knows: without modern marketing tools, achieving business success is extremely difficult. However, improper use of these tools can turn into a real black hole, absorbing huge resources without any return. According to statistics, up to 60% of marketing budgets are spent inefficiently if there is no clear understanding of goals and measurable results. So, how do you avoid making mistakes and wasting money? How can you determine whether your marketers’ proposals really fit the objectives, and are not just an attempt to “spend the budget”? To make the right decisions, it’s important to understand how everything works and to apply in practice the method of the 3 filters!

First filter: Clear understanding of the 4Ps and your audience

It’s no secret that at the heart of classical marketing lies the concept of “4P“: Product (Product), Price (Price), Place (Place), and Promotion (Promotion). That is, the right product at a fair price, in the right place, and with effective promotion that stimulates sales. It seems simple, but “the right” understanding is different for everyone.

For some, a good product is the cheapest one, for others, it’s the one sold in a convenient store. For some, it’s high quality, for another, it’s a well-known and trustworthy brand. Your personal understanding of “the right product” is at the level of your ability to describe competitors’ products: what are their strengths and weaknesses? Which characteristics can you and your team identify to perform a comparative analysis with your own product? If your company does not practice in-depth analysis of competitors’ products, you will not be able to properly evaluate them and, consequently, effectively improve your own.

But even more importantly: understanding the 4Ps is absolutely impossible without a deep knowledge of your target audience. After all, the “right” product or “effective” promotion is determined precisely by the needs, problems, and preferences of your clients. For example, for teenagers the “right place” might be TikTok, while for retirees—it’s the local newspaper.

Example: A home appliance manufacturer decided to lower the price of their premium model (Price) without considering that their target audience values quality and status, not savings. As a result, sales dropped, as the product began to be associated with “cheapness,” contradicting its positioning.

Thus, here is the first filter: when considering proposed marketing activities, make sure you clearly understand which of the 4Ps you are aiming to improve, which product parameters are to be influenced, and who your target audience is.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is our target audience? What are their pains and needs?
• What unique value does our product bring to the customer?
• How does our price correspond to the perceived value and competitors’ offers?
• Where is our target audience located (online/offline) and where do they prefer to get information about the product?

Second filter: Factors influencing the consumer

And there’s more. There is a concept called factors influencing consumer decision-making. There are just seven basic factors—easy to remember and use in your work (as described by R. Cialdini in ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’):

• Direct material benefit: offer the client something tangible — discounts, extra products, or gifts.
  • Example: “Buy a laptop and get a free mouse!”
• Reciprocity: People tend to return kindness with kindness. This could be free samples, participation in surveys, or engagement in communication.
  • Example: A free sample of a new perfume or an invitation to an exclusive tasting event.
• Authority: People trust the opinions of experts and authoritative figures. If a well-known professional recommends a product, people are more likely to buy it.
  • Example: A dentist recommends a certain toothpaste or a popular blogger-expert praises a gadget.
• Scarcity: We value what’s limited or hard to get. Short-term offers or limited quantities create a sense of urgency and a subconscious desire to own.
  • Example: “Only 2 days! 50% off all products!” or “Limited edition, only 100 units!”
• Social proof: People look to others’ actions. Positive reviews, high ratings, and subscriber counts often encourage purchases.
  • Example: “More than 1000 happy customers!”, “4.9 stars based on 5000 reviews.”
• Consistency: We strive to be consistent in our actions. If a person has taken the first step (for example, subscribed to a newsletter or filled out a short form), they are more likely to continue in the same direction.
  • Example: An offer to sign up for a free trial period, with a subsequent transition to a paid version.
• Liking: We prefer to interact with those we like, whether it’s friendly salespeople, familiar faces, or brands that evoke positive emotions.
  • Example: A pleasant and polite consultant in a store, using images of happy families in advertising.

Your second filter is as follows: determine which of these influence factors is being used in the proposed marketing activities. The more factors involved, the better and the higher the likelihood of successful implementation. If none of them are involved in the offer, you should seriously consider whether it’s worth investing time and resources.

Third filter: The presence of a clear and measurable result.

And finally, the third filter: the presence of a clear and measurable result. Any marketing activity must have a clear, quantifiable goal. That is, you should understand in advance how to unequivocally measure the expected result and evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed activity.

For example, if you’re offered activities to increase product awareness, but you haven’t measured that parameter before, you won’t be able to assess whether the result has been achieved. This means the money will be wasted.

It’s great if you use the metric ROMI (Return On Marketing Investment). When making a decision, always ensure that its target value is over 100%. This means that at minimum you have recovered the marketing expenses through the additional profit gained from the activity.

Besides ROMI, there are many other important marketing metrics that need to be tracked:

• CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) — cost to acquire a customer.
• LTV (Life Time Value) — customer lifetime value.
• Conversion — the percentage of users who performed the target action.
• Reach — the number of unique users who saw your message.
• ER (Engagement Rate) — the audience engagement level (for example, in social networks).

Important: for each marketing activity you need to set key performance indicators (KPI) even before launching it. And to avoid major financial losses, always conduct small test campaigns to verify hypotheses and metrics before making large investments.

Applying these three filters will allow you to make informed decisions, avoid inefficient use of resources, and, importantly, quickly assess how competent your marketers are!

What do you think about these filters? Are you ready to apply them in practice, and which ones seem most relevant for your business?