What is a positive ROI guarantee exactly?

yBC.tv is committing that all our clients will experience return on their investment in every significant project they do with us. That means as an absolute minimum they will receive a return equivalent to their investment. If this does not happen, we will reduce our fees accordingly.

Why do you need to offer a guarantee?

We don’t need to. But after testing this with a few of our newer clients, we think it’s a very good idea. There can be no doubt that social media is now mainstream, but despite some pretty compelling evidence, many companies seem reluctant to take a risk and try something new, choosing to stay with “traditional” marketing.

The guarantee is a way of removing the perceived risk. Our aim is to encourage many clients who are currently holding back to take the plunge and see what they can achieve. There’s no risk, so nothing ventured, nothing gained.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one. We pride ourselves on professionalism and value. And we believe we deliver it. This is about putting money where our mouths are. We’ll negotiate ROI metrics with each client and take it from there.

Has this been done before?

Not that we’re aware of in the social marketing space. In fact, it goes against the grain of the marketing, PR and advertising industry generally. Traditionally, agencies have focussed on “fee for service” models.

What happens if positive ROI is not achieved?

Depending on what we’ve negotiated with each client, we’ll either provide a refund or we will reduce our fees until positive ROI is achieved. It’s that simple. But there will be plenty of clarity around both the measure/formula for ROI and the consequences of not hitting agreed markers.

How do you determine ROI?

We’ll approach it on a case-by-case basis as every campaign will have different goals and clients differ in terms of their focus, their industry and which metrics are most important to them. We’ll agree something which is fair and reasonable.

What are some examples of ROI?

The metrics will differ depending on the campaign. Some ROI measures could be any or many of the following, or something else:

• Improved SEO (ie found more easily on Google)
• More industry contacts (including prospects of course)
• Increased name recognition (with the people who matter)
• New referral opportunities (to increase business)
• Access to the latest information (including competitive intelligence)
• Develop direct messaging to a community of followers (to strengthen relationships)
• Traditional media opportunities (hey, they can still help drive business sometimes)
• Save time on location or in new cities (now, wouldn’t that be refreshing)
• Increased influence in an interested community (with obvious business benefits)
• Increased web site traffic (self explanatory)
• Satisfied customers due to better communication (with obvious consequences)
• Better customer service due to conversation monitoring (and, at decreased cost)
• Improved business intelligence (with all sorts of knock-on effects)
• Better understanding of your competition (which is always a useful thing)
• Increase customer loyalty (perhaps leading to a drop in churn)
• Capture new e-mail addresses for e-mail marketing (sound good?)

Isn’t this risky for yBC?

We aren’t naïve enough to think that every campaign will be a great success, but experience suggests the vast majority of our campaigns achieve positive ROI. Recently we’ve found ourselves talking to some major corporations about social media so we believe social media is at a tipping point (as far as business is concerned). This is about encouraging “mainstream” business to try us.

Is it possible that you’d refuse to work with some companies?
Anything’s possible, but it’s unlikely we’d say no. We may not offer this guarantee on smaller projects. But for more significant projects, campaigns and challenges we might say no (politely) only if a business had unreasonable expectations or was in an untenable position. It’s got to work for you. It’s also got to make sense for us.

Is this different from pay for performance?

Yes. We’re paid up front for our work. Our positive ROI guarantee is not about setting remuneration terms. It’s just a simple, bottom line guarantee for all our clients that we will make sure they always get some level of return on their investment with yBC.tv.

Will you be increasing your fees to cover any potential losses?

No. We’re increasing our commitment to getting great results!