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f you are a marketing professional, an executive or shareholder in a company that spends a significant amount of money on advertising and promotions, here are a few pointers you may wish to ponder.

If you are wondering why you should invest 10 minutes reading the musings of a stranger, consider my dubious distinctions. I was once the youngest vice president of the world's oldest advertising agency. In Indonesia, our creative team made us the most award-winning agency year after year. The media department gave birth to what is the country's biggest media buyer today.

I am now a researcher and this move from 'fiction' to 'fact' was life-changing. I can create fiction as well as anyone but I also know I should stick to the facts. If you believe that good advertising ' plans and ideas ' should be based on the truth, read on.

If you already have an agency or are planning to hire one, I suggest you pose these five questions to the team.

How well do you really know this country?

This country is rapidly changing socially, economically and politically. Today, steady migration has made the country roughly 50:50; rural to urban. The 20 biggest cities only account for 27 percent of the urban Indonesia split ' the other 23 live in secondary cities and towns. Despite this, many advertising agencies restricted themselves to the 15 biggest cities.

Would an individual running for president only aim his campaign at just 27 percent of the electorate? If the team hasn't travelled beyond the big cities, you have reason to worry. If the source of their knowledge is restricted to just some cities, you should be very worried. If they tell you that it is the big-city dwellers who are the trendsetters ' and nobody else really matters ' you should terminate your relationship.

The ignorance that spawns such arrogance is detrimental to the health of your business. Nothing could be more damaging; nothing could be further from the truth. Too often, too many conversations in the ivory towers of Jakarta are based on yesterday's myths and today's fiction.

How well do you know my customers ' my prospective customers, my lapsed customers ' and my competitor's customers?

Most advertisers and their agencies are able to answer these questions with hard numbers and sharp insight. Today, it is possible to say that are 3.2 million regular users of Pantene shampoo who are females in the age group 14-17.

But if a media plan aimed at reassuring this young group of users was based only on Television Audience Ratings (TAM), the chances are high that a program like Indonesian Idol wouldn't be included.

That's because it would not feature on the Top 10 programs measured by the demographic driven TAM, even though it is sixth on the 'really love to watch' list of this sharply-defined target group

Depending on your business, target group definitions today can be as focused as 'people intending to open a savings account' or 'rejecters of the Toyota Yaris', or 'Indomie buyers who are calorie conscious' and connect them to websites they visit.

Both weapons are lethal but there are major differences in the capabilities of a sawn-off shotgun and a sniper's rifle.

How do you keep a finger on the pulse of our changing society? How is it changing, what is stimulating the changes, where are those changes taking place and how should we respond?

For anyone to say an 'annual review' is enough in todays ever- changing environment is like saying 'we can wait until a competitor has eaten up our market share'. How can a review once a year prevent erosion from a competitive new product launch, a game-changing introduction of new technology or even a highly effective promotion that encourages switching?

Many of the booming middle-class are adding centimetres to their waistlines, raising awareness of calories and weigh-related concerns. Attitudes to credit are changing, as is the visibility of the hijab. Add to those complexities the all-encompassing impact of the smartphone phenomenon and rapidly changing consumer behaviour.

Does your agency know how much money was spent online by Indonesians last year, or in the last quarter? Or what they spent their money on? To say that an annual survey conducted in a handful of big cities is adequate to keep your business, just adds insult to injury; Show them the door.

How do you measure return-on-investment, periodically? Do you have the tools to illustrate the impact of our advertising rupiah and review what is working and what is not?

There was a time when questions like these were difficult to answer. Not any longer. For every rupiah spent on communicating with a sharply defined target group, accurate answers can be provided to demonstrate return on investment (ROI). Course corrections can be made, at least every 90 days. This is not some far-fetched theory from some land far away.

There are agencies that have been doing this for their clients for years. I would be happy to make the introductions.

Do you want to be treated as a partner? Do you want a long-term relationship?

Too many advertisers continue to make the expensive mistake of buying media, cheap; cheap can be wasteful and misguided. Remember that old adage, 'pay peanuts and get monkeys'? If you think bigger is better, you are on the wrong track. Faced with cost-driven annual pitches, too many advertising agencies have little or no loyalty to their clients today. Big agency or small, there really is no difference. If you stick to old arbitrary benchmarks and ask for gross rating points by the kilo, you are stuck in a time warp.

Television is still a powerful medium for most marketers, so most agencies will unquestioningly do your bidding and waste your money for you. Convergence is happening; remember, the smartphone is not just a phone, it is a computer. Are you ready?

One final point: The mutual respect that used to be the invaluable glue is sadly absent in most client-agency relationships today. By the time a newly appointed agency has learnt the key lessons affecting your future, the business is up for yet another pitch. More often than not, the cheapest offer wins. But how do you know you're winning, not losing? Think, again.

These conclusions are based on Roy Morgan Single Source. More than 26,000 respondents are interviewed every year, week after week. The data is projected to reflect 87 percent of the population aged 14 years and over.

The writer can be contacted at Debnath.Guharoy@roymorgan.com