Marketings need to track print procurement costs

I was reading a recent article on whattheythink.com by Brian Wolfenden titled: The Future of Print in Marketing Communications. Brian raises a great point in the article; "Today's marketing professionals...They have to make sure that the campaign delivers tangible and quantifiable results quickly. And these results must show a return on investment for the budget they spend on the campaign." Brian goes on in the next paragraph; "As service providers, this offers an opportunity to partner with the marketer to help them produce effective marketing campaigns that have a fresh approach that stresses targeted, customer-centric communications, measurable results and concrete return on investment." These are both excellent points that point back to "Return on Investment."

The key to all of this is knowing what your spend is in the first place and knowing whether or not your getting the best return on that investment. Most companies are still "shooting from the hip" when it comes to tracking spend or evaluating supplier effectiveness. They audit their purchase orders for cost or survey their buyers or buyers of others companies to determine quality delivery from suppliers. All valid tools but time consuming. Tools like Cross-Wind are designed specifically to provide the information to help marketing departments in determining Return on Investment by tracking costs from purchase orders and invoices, and evaluating supplier quality, turnaround, and responsiveness. Getting the best value starts in the estimating phase not in the purchasing phase of a project. In addition, all of these numbers need to come together fast and effectively with your other media spend numbers. Measureable Results...not just in campaign effectiveness but in spend. Am I getting the best quality, delivery, service, and price. You need to have a set of tools in your arsenal that help you to make the best decision regarding return on investment and to do it effectively. It is not a single tool but a set of tools that help you to track the information specific to their areas and then output the data in an effective manner to provide you with a picture of the whole not just a segment. Are you tracking your spend?