Return On Outcome and Brand Sustainability

By Lee Ussher and Iggy Pintado

Branding is all about communicating and connecting, to build a relationship with consumers, with the intent that it will result in an outcome, potentially either directly or indirectly, to revenue.

Most people who decide to invest in developing their personal or business profile are investing time and money with an intent to make money from doing it. 

So, what role does Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Outcome (ROO) play for people wanting to set up and sustain their personal or business brand?  

I asked Lee Ussher, Founder of digital and social media agency, Buzz Web Media and corporate & leadership branding practitioner for over 10 years for her perspective as follows:

Some businesses who ‘set up a brand’ for themselves have an intent to use it for anything other than a way for people to identify their business. These businesses create a logo, colour style guide, website, email signature and rarely update any of it on a regular basis. 

Despite this basic branding, they still have an ROI expectation (knowingly or unknowingly) because they are usually investing in other marketing strategies to support their brand identity. This could take the form of ad campaigns (print or digital), local networking, sponsoring, or running small events and being involved in industry expos. All which gives them an assumed ROI and access to relevant databases.

There are others who invest time in blogging, email marketing, regularly updating their Google listing with offers or social media with PR news that communicates messages to create an identity that establishes a greater awareness about themselves for a topic, service and/or product and exponentially grows in recognition from the digital footprint they leave behind.

The perceived return is that the brand itself becomes a valued asset.

Then there are other desired outcomes that contribute to brand association. Why we buy is constantly changing based on trends and developing factors such as ethics, sustainability, local products/services. People are emotional buyers, so we don’t choose to work with a business just because they tick a box in having what we need.

If it was a logical decision, we would choose the closest supermarket, hairdresser, or coffee shop to purchase out of convenience - but we don’t. Most of us go beyond to access what we want - which is usually driven by emotive reasons, such as great service, the tidiness of the shop (my grandfather was a butcher so it’s a thing for me) and the presentation of the food delivered.

A great example of outcome-based experiences is in some major brands supporting the environment by moving away from using plastic - bags, utensils, straws, takeaway containers - to retain their customers. These brands took on the additional expense without profit in mind. 

They did it with a return on outcome that was based on the values of what people and communities wanted and to maintain relevance with their customers. That investment was not for a direct return on the investment, but the outcome that will, in the long term, produce loyal customers and consequently, consistent revenue results. 

Most businesses are now recognising they need to ‘do their part’ in some way as part of their branding. If maintaining their brand reputation is the outcome, then businesses need to consider 3 things:

• Social good activity - the social activity or organization they are associating with is actually in line with what they do and what is relevant to their consumers. For example, if clients are predominantly families, then choose to support something that is family focused. Running a customer survey for input on ideas is always a good place to start. 

• Offer support incentives - offer incentives to support a buying decision. Airlines know they cannot avoid emissions, and flying is a travel convenience. When a ticket is being purchased, there is an option to pay a fee towards the gas emissions your flight will cause. 

• Involve staff and clients - walking the talk is the best brand marketing. Smaller businesses can adopt some of what larger companies do who have internal sustainability programs to get their staff involved in a sense of ownership. The outcome from doing something like this is attracting great talent and maintaining staff. Giving staff time to spend a workday in a charity or cause of their choice every quarter is a simple way to build stronger relationships with staff. Making this part of the business culture will result in longevity, loyalty and word of mouth marketing that builds a strong reputation.

The brand builds a reputation through communication and connection. Businesses need to keep reviewing and updating how they are being perceived by their target audience. Because the brand is the front face of communications and reputation of a business, that is where the assessment should start to do things … a little differently.

The Art of Return on Outcome

 

By Robin Dickinson and Iggy Pintado

I’m still perplexed by the premise that business is all about Return on Investment (ROI). The question is: can Return on Outcome (ROO) - a qualifiable, subjective measure of an investment based on the outcome realised - and ROI co-exist in commercial thinking? 

I approached someone who, by chosen professions, needs to balance both.

Robin Dickinson is a Business Development Specialist and an artist. His day job is as lead facilitator in a business development advisory firm with a hardcore commercial focus. His evenings and weekends are spent creating contemporary paintings and drawings in his studio.

By his own admission, he confesses to having a kind of “split personality”. On the one side, purely commercial and on the other, creatively focused. He admits to using this duality to great advantage when it comes to commercialising his art. Here is Robin’s perspective:

As a businessman, my focus is on maximising ROI. It’s all about increasing revenue and minimising expense. Unlike most artists, I include the actual labour costs by measuring how long it takes to create a work and then charging a commercial rate for this creative time. 

I also amortise time taken for promotion, fulfilment, and delivery of works. This gives a true sense of real ROI and helps me to get product range selection and pricing right. I’m constantly looking for ways to leverage my commercial experience to maximise ROI. For example, securing commercial sponsorships for my art exhibitions. This helped my first art sales event to be profitable before a single painting was sold.

As an artist, ROO is more relevant. Creatively, the outcomes I’m focused on achieving are:

• Purpose: to have an impact on the viewer emotionally and aesthetically. To stir a response.
• Truth: to be true to the inner creative force that is striving to be expressed, rather than be opportunistic around a popular or trending genre or style.
• Uniqueness: to further my mission to create original, ‘unseen’ works
• Fulfilment: to feel the immense sense of joy and satisfaction that comes from creating works that matter to me personally

Before an artwork is ‘released’ for sale to the commercial guy (my alter ego), it’s essential that these outcomes are achieved. Yes, they are highly subjective, and I have yet to develop any kind of quantitative measure to ‘quality assure’ the works. 

That said, as an artist, I intuitively know if the ROO is achieved. I just feel the inner buzz every time I look at the picture. For now, that’s good enough.

In Robin’s experience, both ROI and ROO work together. If the ROO is achieved, then he knows that the ROI will follow. It makes sense that the higher the ROO, the higher the sales price. The more passion and purpose that an artwork engenders in him, the easier it is to sell.

Robin’s artwork is available for viewing at www.artbyrad.art and you can connect with Robin on LinkedIn.

Knowledge Sharing and Return on Outcome

By Jaqui Lane and Iggy Pintado

We’ve heard much about the great resignation, which has morphed into the great realignment. Recently, I caught up with Publisher and Book Adviser, Jaqui Lane who offered up another perspective, which she calls ‘the great reconnection’. We discussed this and how it relates to knowledge sharing and ultimately, return on outcome (ROO). Here’s her view:

Many business owners and executives have had more time to reconnect with their passion - what has been driving them to achieve their goals. They realised that they have knowledge and insights to share and want to do something about it. For me, that meant I received more calls and emails from business leaders about how they could write and publish their knowledge and insights in a book.  

The 2020s is the decade of intellectual capital not financial capital. Real meaning and power belong to those who share knowledge. The more knowledge is shared, the more it grows and works to advance society. Real leadership is not a matter of having the most knowledge it’s about knowing how to share it. 

The first question I ask any potential business book client is ‘What’s the purpose of your book?’ The overwhelming majority respond that they want to help make a positive impact on their readers by sharing their knowledge and insights, and they want to do this at scale. 

They are not driven by return on investment (ROI), quite the opposite in fact. They’re focused on the return on outcome (ROO). This is not to say they are uninterested in the time and dollar investment they’ll need to make, it’s more that they assess success by the outcomes they want to achieve less by the financial return.

The motivation for most businesspeople in writing their book is primarily to share their knowledge and insights with more people. If that’s millions, that’d be fantastic. If its 1,000, 2,000 or more that’s pretty amazing. I’ve had several clients say to me ‘if I can help one person with my book, I’d be really happy with that.’ One person, one book!

So what are the outcomes business people are looking to achieve with their own business book? There are many, but here’s the top six.

1. Share my knowledge and insights

2. Build credibility and authority in my area

3. Position myself as the ‘go-to’ person in the media on my industry/subject

4. Increased brand awareness for me and for my business

5. Generate more clients/retain more clients

6. Secure more speaking engagements

Note that the focus is on outcomes not a straight ROI. Many of the outcomes would be hard to put a simple dollar figure on and many are mutually supportive and, indeed, reinforcing. Let’s take one example, securing coverage in your specific industry media or more general media (whatever platforms you’re focusing on). The more visibility you have to a wider audience on a consistent basis the more visible you are, the more potential and current clients contact or re-engage you. Can you say that X media coverage resulted in Y business? In some cases, you can, in most, probably not.

And here’s another example. You’re a senior executive/partner in a law firm/consulting firm who wants to build a level of personal credibility and authority to stand out from the crowd and gain wider visibility in your industry or outside it in preparation for the next stage of your career. Investing the time and money in writing and publishing a business book is mostly about building your profile NOT about ROI. ROO is the objective.

If your driver is ROO, it is, therefore, important that you are very clear about what those outcomes are for you. You might just have one key outcome and two-three secondary ones or you might want to achieve all that I’ve listed – many of my clients do. It’s important though to prioritise your ROO goals as achieving them will take time and consistent execution to achieve.

In the business book writing and publishing arena there are two main investments, time, and money. For most businesspeople/executives time is money whether you are trading time for money as a consultant or running a multi-million-dollar company. Interestingly, this is where the great reconnection has had a major impact. Many businesspeople have had more time – more time to think, reflect, reassess, and recalibrate. Certainly, some of my clients were quite clear that they wanted to use lockdown time to achieve their long-held desire to write and publish their book. One of my clients shared that they were going to allocate their previous commuting time to writing their book.

Looking at the straight return on financial investment, I share with my clients that cost recovery is possible but not a given, and that it will take between 12-18 months to achieve, IF they are consistent in terms of their marketing and engagement around their book. If they are not interested, willing or able to market their book (i.e. generate visibility) or delegate someone else to do this, it’s unlikely they will cost recover their financial investment. 

This, however, is not a significant issue for them as they’re focused on the ROO not the ROI. Sure, they’d like to cost recover at worst and make some money at best, but ROO is significantly more important to them.

The Return on Media and Communications Outcomes

 

By Johanna Baker-Dowdall and Iggy Pintado

As a senior marketer for many years, it’s been difficult to almost impossible to justify a return on investment on media and communications. At the same time, I’ve worked in organisations that wouldn’t flinch in spending money on communication agencies, professional spokespeople, publicists, and lobbyists to develop and execute impactful messaging. 

It seems that the “return” is more qualifiable around planned proactive and reactive outcomes. I wanted to find out more about best practice in this space, so I approached Media & Communications Specialist, Johanna Baker-Dowdall who has been practising her craft for over 25 years. I posed these three questions to her:

Iggy: Is Return on Investment (ROI) a consideration for people wanting to invest in communication activities and initiatives?

Johanna: The idea of ROI on media and communications can be a difficult one to quantify. I have run my own writing and public relations agency for more than two decades and I’ve been asked to quantify the service I provide on numerous occasions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for measuring your investment to make sure you’re hitting the mark (otherwise why are you doing it?), but when the activities you are undertaking for an individual or organisation are designed to position their name or brand top of a consumer’s mind it can be hard to specifically measure that success until the sales start to roll in for the business, tickets are sold for the event or the person is booked for that big speaking gig.

For example, if I was to ghost-write an opinion piece for a daily newspaper on behalf of a client and then pitch it, the ROI could simply be seeing the piece published. However, I would take it a step further and suggest it is what happens after the piece has been published and the client has been contacted by a different media outlet to comment on a breaking story as an expert in that space that is the real measure of success. The same goes for drafting and sending out a media release for an event. Is the ROI the number of times the event is mentioned in the target media, or is it the buzz built by attendees who tell others how good the event was so there are people waiting eagerly to book for the next event, even if it’s not for another year?

Iggy: Should people consider Return on Outcome (ROO) factors such as contextual messaging, brand reputation and impactful engagement with their audience/constituents?

Johanna: The questions I’ve posed about taking ROI a step or two further to realise true value is really the sweet spot for media and communications activity, and that is where ROO comes into play. When you consider Return on Outcome factors, a good strategic media/comms plan that spans multiple activities across varied media targets will build a brand’s reputation over time to encourage consumer trust. This makes it more likely that consumers will be willing to engage with that person or organisation in the future. Good strategic communications activity builds over time; it’s not something that happens within a week, or even a month. ROO factors like increased credibility, stronger name recall, and better brand recognition are all the result of financial investment but, more importantly, they build to create better outcomes.

“When you consider Return on Outcome factors, a good strategic media/comms plan that spans multiple activities across varied media targets will build a brand’s reputation over time to encourage consumer trust”

My current boss, for instance, is a politician. Our communications plan includes a mix of daily social media activity, monthly opinion pieces, regular e-newsletters and ad hoc media releases, media commentary and letters to the editor, coupled with regular speeches in parliament and updates on committee activity. This strategic plan has resulted in better name recognition (both within parliament and throughout the state), growth in social media following and engagement, more opportunities to connect with constituents and more interviews with media.

A consistent plan and strategic messaging have built over time with the result being a combination of objective and subjective measurables. Obviously, re-election is the ultimate in measurable results, but we’re not quite at that stage yet!

Iggy: What other OUTCOMES need to be considered in the communications space e.g., response management, potential damage control and follow up messaging?

Johanna: Communicating when things go wrong is something that is often forgotten from planning. Everything can be going swimmingly, with brand recognition high and great consumer engagement, but nothing defines how a brand or individual will be remembered as how they respond in a crisis. In the heat of the moment, when all you want is for the drama to end, it can be easy to try to explain it away or blame somebody else to protect yourself/the brand. 

Instead of panicking, think beyond the crisis to how you want to be remembered and then work backwards from there. Someone/a brand that gets out in front of a crisis, explains the situation, outlines a plan to respond to the event and then follows through with that plan is going to be in much better control of the message. They will realise better reputational outcomes and gain greater respect. And who knows, they might even pick up some new fans in the process. 

That’s a great outcome!

More about Return On Outcome at www.returnonoutcome.com 

Return on Outcome and Global Trading

By Lance Scoular and Iggy Pintado

More people are reconsidering their commercial careers for more appealing lifestyle options and entrepreneurial pursuits. In addition, Covid has also seen a dramatic increase in online ordering and shipping globally, opening the doors to the opportunity to establish a niche virtual business with global suppliers that cater to worldwide markets. 

 However, importing/exporting, and global trading are not without layers of risks that may hamper success. Risks are many and varied when trading goods and services between countries, and can impact a business venture, resulting in delays, extra costs, reduced profits and in a worst case, sinking a business.

In a nutshell, while a return-on-investment approach is required to measure the ongoing sustainability of the overall business, it is just as vital to plan and manage for the risks associated with global trading which ultimately, is the return on outcome to the organisation.  

Lance Scoular has been a Licensed Customs Broker for 40 years. He was engaged as an industry trainer by the Australian Federation of International Forwarders and today, he specialises in conducting courses and coaching businesses in the nuts and bolts of importing, exporting and global trading, to better navigate the minefield of international trade and transport.  He is the ‘go to guy’ in this space in Australia and is widely known as ‘The Savvy Navigator’.

Lance believes that importing/exporting and global trading is complex with different rules, regulations, prohibitions, taxes, duty rates, freight rates, etc. in different countries. Lance strives to educate students to visualise what could go wrong in their business processes, procedures, and systems to propel them toward positive outcomes for their business.

During his course, he emphasises that 80% of small businesses fail in the first five years. This is compounded by the fact that many businesses are or will be transacting internationally, which raises the failure rates stakes dramatically.  

From this perspective, a return on outcome approach needs to be at the forefront of business planning from the outset. Lance cites the example of a course attendee from the film industry who, after attending the first day, sent him an email saying that she realised the venture she had in mind was too risky to proceed with, but thanking him for making it abundantly clear to her that it was too risky. For this person, the return on outcome was in preventing failure after conducting due diligence on the risks associated with the venture, saving a lot of time, money, and heartache.

Lance has also dealt with entrepreneurs who seek trading process improvements to streamline and reduce costs to their supply chains. He tells of another person who discussed his original goal to cut out the middleman by importing directly from China but needed guidance on where to start. With Lance’s assistance, he located a supplier in China for imports to Australia and developed other markets in the Americas, establishing himself as a Global Trader. 

The acquisition of knowledge and information resulted in improved supply sourcing and expanded market reach and opportunity, effecting a positive multiplier effect.

Finally, there’s the return on outcome based on networked contacts. It’s often said that it’s not always what you know but who you know. Lance tells of a female student who attended his course, who years later, leveraged his experience as a Tradestart Export Advisor at the Australia Trade and Investment Commission (AUSTRADE), to put her in touch with an Export Market Development Grants consultant to obtain a grant of over $20,000 to cover the costs of two years of export marketing expenses.

An outcome comes in many forms and is not always quantifiable. It can be disguised as a risk and an opportunity. With the appropriate amount of knowledge, assessment, and action, it can result in a return on outcome that could mean the continued success or ultimate failure of a business. 

On March 22nd, he has partnered with the NSW Government, to provide a FREE Zoom Webinar for NSW Small Business Month 2022 entitled “Importing, Exporting and Global Trading for Small Business Made Easy”. 

Lance can be contacted directly on LinkedIn.

Happy ROO Year!

 

                                            

By Kaz Muddell and Iggy Pintado

Source image: reprinted with permission of The Big Issue Australia.

Recently, we saw an article that intrigued us. Despite all the best intentions, most people that make new year resolutions to get healthier, fitter and lose excess weight at the beginning of January, will inevitably fall off their respective programs before the end of the month. Wow.

The assumption is that these people spend their well-earned cash ‘investing’ in gym memberships, personal trainers, nutritionists, diet regimes and group exercise classes. In making this investment in their promised better health, they don’t plan to be receiving any direct financial return on their money.

Recently, the term Return On Outcome (ROO) has come into social thinking. It proposes that a return on outcome is a qualifiable, subjective measure of an investment based on the outcome realised, and not a quantitative, objective measure of investment based on a monetary return.

Assuming that most people aren’t expecting a quantifiable return on their health investments, we asked ourselves, what criteria do people use to outlay their cash for the promise of better health. And why do most of them give up within a month so easily?

Since 2006, Kaz Muddell has been helping people of all ages and fitness levels improve their quality of life. Her Mind Body Motion business offers personal and virtual training and group classes. This is her practical perspective.

When a client signs up with her for personal training or to attend a group class, they don’t expect a financial return on their investment, although they do expect to “get their money’s worth”. By investing their funds, they expect to lose weight, improve their fitness, go down a dress size and so on. Their goals are not financially quantifiable, but they can envisage a return on outcome.

Short term results are possible, but not sustainable. Becoming healthy is not an overnight process. It takes dedication and an investment of time and their best return on their desired outcomes will be through long-term adoption of disciplined and habitual practices.

Exercise isn’t just about what you look like or how fit you are. Exercise is also about quality of life in the forms of improved mobility, building strength to reduce injury in the future, endurance, and improved mental wellbeing. 

Kaz works with people of all ages, and many are over 60. The outcome for these people is to be able to participate in the hobbies they enjoy, many of which are physical such as gardening, walking, playing with their grandchildren, or snow skiing. The desired outcome is to have the strength and mobility to enjoy these activities, and have a lower risk of injury whilst doing so.

The return on outcome can also vary depending on whether the person chooses to attend a gym or to work with a personal trainer. This can often be the catalyst as to whether they keep going, even if they don’t achieve their goals in the short term. 

Surrounding yourself with like-minded people creates a social atmosphere as well as providing some level of accountability. Regardless of what option you choose, it’s always more motivating to work with others and have someone challenge you, hold you accountable to your commitment, and it’s more enjoyable.

The original premise of return on outcome was to challenge the notion that everything has a return on investment (ROI). This is a clear example of how some personal investments do not have a direct ROI. Instead, people realise a return on outcome based on more qualifiable outcomes.

Therefore, it’s proposed that commencing this year, considering the return on outcome (ROO) on both personal and business decisions should be more duly considered.

 So, for now, have a Happy ROO Year!

What is Return on Outcome?

by Iggy Pintado

Last December, I wrote an article with Dr. Chris Baumann that was published in CMO magazine, called Introduction to Return On Outcome.

In the article, I related a story about a conversation with a Chief Finance Officer where I requested some funds for a program I wanted to run. He not only explained that I needed to show a return on investment (ROI) on the requested funds but that Everything has an ROI. Hmm..

After a career in marketing, I got used to the rejection of requested expense budgets unless a ‘quantifiable”, monetary return could be clearly articulated.

However, I challenge the specific words: Everything has an ROI.

Businesses can use ROI criteria to justify an expense investment. I question if it is the ONLY criteria for determining if a program that assists the business is approved or not. Are there other more qualifiable criteria that deliver business returns that cannot be quantified but justifiably benefits a business generally or specifically?

Should ROI be the only criteria for determining if an idea produces a desirable outcome?

The proposition is to consider a return on outcome perspective. Simply put, a return on outcome (ROO) is a qualifiable, subjective measure of an investment based on the outcome realised, and not a quantitative, objective measure of investment based on a monetary return.

 
Personally, I don’t use ROI in many personal decisions. For example, in determining whether to donate some of my hard-earned salary to a cause. There is no quantifiable return to a charitable donation. Instinctively, the outcome achieved is in feeling good about contributing to a worthy cause. The return is in the outcome realised, not in an objective return on funds invested.

 
In business, the return on investment of hosting a corporate client at their favourite football game cannot be directly quantified, but there are qualifiable returns in an improved, sustainable relationship between a satisfied client and the sales teams that may lead to the purchase of the company’s products and services over time. 

Similarly, it’s hard to quantify sending a single staff member to an expensive operational improvement course. However, once the individual returns from the course and shares their learnings with their colleagues, the potential improved team productivity and morale boost benefits of developing the individual and fellow staff members is realised.

Return on outcome (ROO) is a qualifiable, subjective measure of an investment based on the outcome realised.

So, does everything have an ROI? In the ensuing series of posts on this Return On Outcome blog, I’ll be collaborating with practioners primarily to get their regular and practical experience on return on outcome. 

Please join me here and contribute with any comments and insights.