Marketing and Business - by Nikos Christoforou - Marketer (Cyprus)

the sincle Magic Number of Marketing - Number 5

5 – the magic number of Marketing

Since the time I started studying Marketing I learned a lot of things that assured me that indeed Marketing is a Science.
By science I mean that Marketing have rules that can be measured and must be taken seriously in concern during the whole process of Marketing.

During all the year of Marketing adventures and studies I came up with a single number that keeps showing up in whatever I do.
The number 5.

What I mean by that:

1. My google ads that you see at the top of this website has an average click though rate of an average 5% of all the visitors of my website. That’s because google ‘reads’ the content of my pages and presents relevant ads. The key is relevance.

2. I came across a small list of e-mails, all from Germany and I e-mailed my website (with Marketing articles content) and article description. I tracked down the response with a counter that allows me to see from where my visitors came. 5% of that days visitors where visitors that responded to my e-mail. And that because my e-mail was not spam. The e-mails belonged to Marketing Students. The key is targeting.

3. Working (as a consultant) for a company that sells medical products we sent direct mail to pharmacies across Cyprus asking them to ask for our products for their supplier and display them at their shelves. The response to that campaign had an average 5% response. The key is relevant products and market.

The same number, the magic 5, will come up a lot of times if you deal with Marketing.
Its an average number, not an exact one that will help you measure some results of your Marketing campaign.
But be careful. You have to apply the other rules of Marketing in order to have these results. Carefully pick your target group, know the market, the media, the marketing mix, do a research on your competitors…

Here is where you can use the magic number:
· Define your Marketing budget at 5% of your company’s turnover.
· Expect a 5% response (of the readers) on a magazine ad.
· Expect a 5% response on your direct mail campaign.
· Expect a 5% click through rate on your Internet banner and text ads.
· If you are planning a research involving your clients, make a list numbered 5% of your total customers number.

I will write about the “Magic 5 of Marketing” in future articles.

posted by MarketingNick @ Thursday, May 12, 2005