ROAS First = stagnation

One of my colleagues sent me this tweet by @heyitsalexP.  We agree very strongly with the idea that “#1 way to WRECK your eCom biz {is} ROAS-first media planning.”

Said another way, focusing on today at the exclusion of tomorrow is not a formula for growth.

I could increase my ROAS at my company by firing my sales and marketing staff tomorrow.  And HR too.  And maybe my most expensive employees, managers.  We don’t charge clients for sales, HR doesn’t produce billable hours, and our managers don’t do direct client work.

Here’s what would happen: It would be a total disaster.

With no sales and marketing team, new client acquisition would slow to a crawl.

Without HR, turnover of employees would increase, and I’d have to pay recruiters to get new ones, then train them.  It would take forever.

With Senior management, the Team Leaders would get overworked, client work would suffer, and we’d lose those clients.
In a short time - 2 weeks? Three months? I’d slide backwards and our Gross Revenue would decline.

ROAS should be part of the equation, and different businesses have different financing situations that affect growth trajectories. But ROAS First = Stagnation.