Return on marketing investment

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Return on marketing investment (ROMI) is the contribution to profit attributable to marketing (net of marketing spending), divided by the marketing 'invested' or risked. ROMI is not like the other 'return-on-investment' (ROI) metrics because marketing is not the same kind of investment. Instead of money that is 'tied' up in plants and inventories (often considered capital expenditure or CAPEX), marketing funds are typically 'risked'. Marketing spending is typically expensed in the current period (operational expenditure or OPEX).

The idea of measuring the market's response in terms of sales and profits is not new, but terms such as marketing ROI and ROMI are used more frequently now than in past periods. Usually, marketing spending will be deemed justified if the ROMI is positive. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, nearly half responded that they found the ROMI metric very useful.^[1]

The purpose of ROMI is to measure the degree to which spending on marketing contributes to profits.^[1] Marketers are under more and more pressure to "show a return" on their activities.