Dominique Hanssens Great Marketing Growth Debate

The second installment of the MMA’s Great Marketing Growth Debate series unfolded on July 29, featuring Dr. Dominique Hanssens, the Distinguished Research Professor of Marketing at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management.

Hanssens expounded on the long-term impact of marketing on business growth, diving deep into the elasticities of the elements of marketing: advertising, price, distribution and innovation, with the latter two proven based on research and modeling to contributing most to growth. Within advertising, Hanssens noted that digital media, with its better targeting ability, doesn’t necessarily contribute a better ROI than traditional TV—but he did concede that the digital world (primarily through social, search and ecommerce) has enabled distribution to sit more closely to advertising, which can lead to improved performance.

Social has also changed the amount of feedback companies can get from their customers in the form of reviews, and he characterized that feedback loop as more important than advertising if a company innovates accordingly, or more harmful if the product doesn’t fair well. Finally, customer relationship building, Hanssens argues, will drive long-term growth much more than a focus on brand or seeking out new customers—reducing attrition is often more profitable than expanding the customer base.  Again, it was probably the most research and fact-based review of marketing’s orientation to growth. Hanssens’ deeper review of the science behind above are capture in his writings here.

Marketing should be grateful to Hanssens’ lifelong study of marketing’s contributions to growth. If you missed his webinar, hosted by the MMA and featuring Forrester’s advertising specialist Joanna O’Connell and Neustar’s Marc Vermut contributing to the Q&A, click here for a replay.

See you Sept. 14 for the third installment featuring Dr. Byron Sharp, author of How Brands Grow.