With two degrees and over 20 years experience in small businesses including food, retail, fashion, design and marketing I have come to learn a few gems, here’s my top 6
1. Does marketing work?
No matter what you sell; product, services, not-for-profit, etc, growth is not an option it is mandatory for survival and comes from good marketing (even in tough times). The question is not “should i be marketing?” but “how much (when and where)?” In fact, those who retain or increase marketing budgets in hard times, prosper faster and greater than those who don’t.
2. “What’s good marketing?”
(i hear you ask) – It comes from carefully considered allocation of resources based on sound research of customers wants and needs and the continual testing, measurement and analysis of campaigns to deliver a profitable and ever improving ROI .
3. How do I allocate my resources?
At the the start it’s hard. You may need to begin simply with what you know works as the benchmark and select new channels or media to test against it. As long as you set up a good dashboard of the metrics to give you transparancy over the campaigns (and dont change too many variables) it’s a pretty simple equation. For every $1 marketing spend we need $x revenue.
4. How do you test and measure successfully?
Firstly you have to commit. Marketing is not an ad or email, it’s a series of integrated “campaigns”. It is essential to commit to a long enough period to get the frequency required to get your prospects attention, interest, desire and action. Then measure apples with apples analyse the results and use the insights to improve each subsequent campaign.
5. Measure what?
My favourite metrics are cost per suspect, cost per lead and cost per sale in collaboration. Creating a funnel and measuring every conversion in isolation and in coordination will give you the ability to be both proactive and reactive with your campaigns.
6. Which agency?
Before I answer that, I do not consider myself a tactical agency and warn against searchuing for the silver bullet! There are thousands of agencies new and old praising the virtues of the latest digital marketing tactics…BUT…digital is a big category and there are lots of channels and media within it, each one works in collaboration with the others. Unless you have unlimited resources, I strongly suggest you do your due diligence when selecting a tactical agency to partner with. If you don’t feel confident, call me for a chat and I’ll gladly help you with some obligation-free independent advice and a list of selection criteria.
If you think you have it covered but not sure which channels to start with, I suggest you begin by surveying your preferred customers to find which media they consume, pick one or two and excel at it. Then add new channels and media to the mix continually testing and measuring against the benchmark (see points 4 and 5 above)
If any of this resonates with you and you’d like to have a no-obligation, friendly chat about your current marketing and potential, please call me today on 0417 305 228. If you dont have time for a chat and want a quick quote or answer to a question shoot me an email here.
It is very difficult to manage your marketing with all the various messages, media and collateral currently available, and it’s even more difficult to ensure that they integrate well to deliver the best return on your investment.
Whether its marketing strategy you need, help selecting and managing your suppliers/partners or someone to help with the implementation, call me and I’ll honestly tell you if and how I can help on 0417 305 228.
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