Marketing: reason or whim?

I always try to ask the following question when I am confronted with a new "marketing idea" that someone wants to try - what is your overall strategy for this, what do you hope to accomplish and what will be the next evolution of this idea?  Then, it's important to make sure the strategy fits the goals the profess they want to accomplish and what their commitment is to this new strategy. If they can't answer these three basic questions then its whimsical marketing. Perhaps they have seen another business, maybe not even a financial institution, use a particular effort and think it can easily be applied anywhere.  Sometimes these can be very good ideas but the effort would fail based on the complete strategy or the execution.  People don't like to sweat the details when it comes to marketing, they all want to come up the catchy phrases or use the latest medium without thinking about the overall strategy and the impact it can have.

I should admit, the first question I ask is much simpler - why?  That is really the baseline test of whether it is reason or whim for the idea they are proposing.  We have had some great ideas come from others so I always like to engage in the thought process. I just hope it's not too much to ask that all ideas should be more than a whim. 

Marketing is much more than pretty pictures, catch tag lines, and daily tweets - it is about finding the strategy that helps the organization achieve its goals and connecting (members, customers, clients, etc)to the organization. It should enhance the hopefully meaningful relationship that is being built through the interactions with the organization. And bottom line, it should deliver results...real, tangible, and measurable results.