As a professional marketeer, I’m disappointed in my fellow marketers (if they are such).

Looking at the “box” from the outside, here’s what anyone should do with $1,000,000 in marketing dollars:

Market as though your budget did not change. Market like your budget decreased. Put your money in a money market account and let it sit at 5% interest while you market like your entire world will collapse and vanish before your eyes if you fail with what you’ve got. This, as a principle, goes beyond strategy, etc. This is about guerrilla marketing, it’s about working harder and smarter than others and about wanting success more than the next guy. What are you willing to do to succeed? Begin from the outside of the box and work your way in. Define what separates entrepreneurs who win from big corps that lose until something clicks. Make it click the first time. Research, research, research. Define and define some more. Talk to those who market without a budget. Talk to those who do have a budget. I would make the money, make me a better marketer.

1 million dollars.

If I had an entirely online business, I’d focus of three things only

1. Sharpening the user experience
2. Running multi-channel online CPA driven marketing programs
3. Develop a sustainable program to engage site members, build psotive word of mouth and contribute back to the wider community.

1. It might take the services of an extremely good IA, but the minute you ensure your website allows your customers to achieve their primary goals, easily and with the customer service to back it up, you’ve won half the battle of sustaining a long term business.

$150k

2. Use your money to market through the channels that allow you to at least measure if they’re hitting your desired CPA. If this million dollars needs to be used to convince someone to give you another million, make sure you can prove the return on investment. You’ve kicked the tyres before, so hit hard those channels that return what you need to sustain growth. If it’s search, refine your positioning, if it’s behavioural targetting, refine your messaging and placement relevency, if it’s print , STOP NOW, don’t waste your money on traditional advertising when it’s a non-traditional customer you’re after.

$650k

3. Don’t fall for the trap of thinking that buzz or WOM is like the AMWAY promise. People are more cynical now than ever. Build a mechanism to engage your customers and your own staff. We decided as a travel company to put back into the communities our travellers pass through. It means a great deal to our customer and even more to us. We developed the footprints charity program that that allowed our customers to make a micro donation to a sustainable community project around the world. What’s $2 when you’ve saved $300? They voted not only with their wallets, but their mouths, so as much as we’re thrilled that we’re funding projects, we’re even more happy that we’ve removed some of the cynicism of donating to charities, made the process transparent and watched our customers spread the word. You wont get that from an ad and your customers wont talk about it unless they believe you’re in it heart and soul. You’ll still need the $$ to build your program, but it will reap positive results for your customers, community 7 bottom line.

$199,998

Spend the extra $2 on a good cup of coffee, you’ll need it.

I agree mostly with David and Simon, however. I’d invest the money into slowing down, thinking and figuring out who my company is…really. And I’d talk to A LOT of my customers to confirm what I found.

Then I’d get my employees away from the business, to spend time thinking about who we are and what we need to do to make sure we are truthful in everything we do. Maybe somewhere along the line, I’d fire a few people who don’t have the vision, the passion or the ability to make things happen. And I’d hire others who demonstrated those abilities. I can always train them to give them the skills needed.

Then I’d speed up and broaden my testing of ideas…make mistakes faster as David, I think, wrote.

Then I’d put the pedal to the metal on the strategies and tactics that worked best, especially those that let me keep a closer watch on my customers to understand what they expected from me and warn me when I let them down.

Ah, what a nice dream.

-Mark

First: I wouldn’t spend it. Spending is what the government does, and what shoppers do (and superbowl advertisers)

I don’t want to sound too smarmy, but I’d INVEST it.

The mentality is different.

Think of it as: “I have 1mil to invest, what kind of return am I looking for? 2:1, 3:1, 10:1, 100:1?”

One earlier comment said “test more”- that’s brilliant, then you can figure out the stinkers and the run with the winning campaigns.

But before I went and “invest” one penny, I’d invest in a “retreat” to get some thinking done. I find I make a lot more money when I think, versus just jump in without thinking.

Dave

I think having that kind of money would make me braver with testing — I’d test more lists, more offers, more campaigns. Fail faster, find out what works faster — and then spend more money on what works best to get bigger, faster.

I’d then spend some on testing new product ideas and new campaigns for those ideas.

But I wouldn’t spend it all right away, however tempting. It would just give me a bigger cushion.

I actually enjoy marketing very much but, as you suggested in a post earlier this week, John, I’d rather head up the strategy end and delegate the work.

I’d hire a *really* good team of people, pay them well, and give them a budget. I think a team that consists of a Direct Marketing Manager, an Online Marketing Manager and a Strategic Partnerships Manager could help me take my business to amazing levels.