Effective Marketing Strategy and Brand Equity Development are the most potent tools any business has to reduce the risk of poor market uptake or outright failure. Decades of research show that approximately 80% of marketing projects aimed at gaining market share fail. This is not because the products are unsuitable but most often due to flawed strategy. This makes determining the allocation of resources to strategic initiatives less about cost control and all about risk management. Given that, it helps to weigh any investment in these initiatives relative to the expected financial returns and the desired timeline for success since that’s what’s on the line. If budgets or timelines are cut to the point where they impede the effectiveness of these programs, then managers should acknowledge the additional risk of failure they are front-loading into the project and account for that reality in their planning.
