Here’s a contentious idea: No matter how you look at it, volume is more important than value when it comes to Marketing

No matter how you look at Marketing it's all about the numbers.

People will tell you, and I have done this so many times I can't remember, that value is the most important thing and beats volume every time. You should focus on getting say 10 high quality customers rather than 100 low quality or 1,000 relevant followers on Twitter rather than 10,000 who are meaningless.

In some ways you can see the logic. But then focusing on the value you want to get more and more volume of it. Suddenly having 10 high value customers needs to be 12 and more...

Let's face it you simply can't get away from the fact that volume and especially when it's more of the good stuff, is the most important thing.

So where do you start?

Simply pulling numbers out of the air based on nothing but gut feel isn't quite the scientific approach that's going to help Marketing raise its credibility in a large organisation or help a small business to maximise the return on every pound it invests. So what's the alternative?

if volume is the most important thing then where do we start to understand both what's needed and what's achievable?

Well a good starting point is a benchmark. What are your competitors doing in terms of numbers for a particular product category or service? What's the industry average? What have YOU done in the past, because you are sure to have some customer and product records tucked away in the archives somewhere?

You need that benchmark as your starting point because it helps to put some realism on those initial numbers you are aiming for, be they for high quality/high value customers or maybe just sales volumes in general.

With your benchmark in hand (and that's your baseline starting point) you then need to understand how many of what you are trying to market is achievable over specific periods of time be they days, weeks, months or even years. Again, look at the competition, seasonal trends, previous sales from other similar products, whatever you can find to bring realism and help you away from 'finger in the air' guesswork.

Then with benchmark and now a basic forecast ready to use you can go forward and test. Monitor every step of the way, the good things and the not so good. Keep the numbers to hand and readily accessible every day. Use electronic means and even the basic human interaction of talking, to keep your figures up to date. Revise your forecasts as you go because you are learning more each time you interrogate what's happening.

Understand how and where and why you hit your figures, or didn't. Look and learn from both the positive and the negative.

Then share. Share the numbers with colleagues and those who matter.

Yes of course the value is really important, but the volume is very important too. Get more of the 'value things' and you'll hit the best of both worlds.