Where’s the ROI in lazy thinking?

One of the most overstated and misunderstood concepts in business today must be ROI – return on investment. Ever since the arrival of digital marketing with the promise of highly specific metrics capable of breaking down a campaign into detailed numbers of clicks, conversions, dollar value and revenue versus cost, lazy marketing has been ruled by the instant analytics displayed on a sales spreadsheet. Every proposal becomes prefaced with “What is the potential ROI?” Every campaign is judged by the immediate numbers with little consideration of context, long term effects or related benefits to the business.