Most companies ask themselves this question: "How much will this advertising cost us?" when they should actually be asking themselves: "How much will it cost not to do this advertising?"
If your company spends $1000 per week on marketing then you could save $1000 per week by not doing any marketing. That is true but it is the simple and shortsighted view of the situation. However, if the revenue generated from that marketing is $1010 you have actually just lost $10 by not doing it. Most times the margin is not that slim. We generally bring in around 10 times what we spend in any given week. That means for every $1000 we spend on marketing we bring in $10,000. If we decided that we were only going to spend half of what we were normally spending we would automatically save half of our budget. That is great but we would likely lose up to half of our weekly sales income. In trying to save half our budget, we actually lost 9 times that amount.
It all comes back to your return on investment (ROI). The money that you spend on your marketing is your investment. The money you bring in on sales is the ROI. That is why your ROI is the most important statistic to consider when trying dividing up your marketing budget. Putting more money into a marketing strategy that has a higher ROI doesn't cost you more money, it makes you more money. Unfortunately many businesses cut their marketing budget first when trying to stay afloat during slow periods. They are actually hastening their downfall.
You have heard it time and time again, "It takes money to make money." It is as true today as it ever has been. You have a good product or service, you run your business well, the only thing that you need is good marketing and that will eventually pay.
Maybe you are still stopped by the big question, "How?" What do you really need to know and how can you actually make it work? Let's start with the "Basic Principles" of promotion.
What is Promotion?
Anything as advertising, public appearances, etc., done to publicize (get the attention or interest of the public) a person, product, event etc.
Why to promote?
The purpose of promotion is to bring in more business and enlarge your customer base. Always try to bring in as much business as you can. It sounds like an obvious thing to say but many people still don't follow this rule. Don't assume any number of new customers will be too much for you to handle. If you have that much business you can always bring on temporary or temp-to-permanent staff to handle the work load.
How do you promote?
There are more ways than you would ever think. Have you ever heard someone say, "I never promote and I am always busy" or "I don't have to promote, all my business comes from word-of-mouth"? They may not be aware of how they're doing it, but I promise you they are promoting somewhere. Maybe they just go around telling everyone they talk to, that they don't promote. (Sounds funny? It's still promoting.) Well here are some ideas you can do "knowingly" to drive in the business. Every action that every member of your staff engages in is promotion. Whether good or bad every action is giving someone an impression of how your company is or does business. Here are a few examples.
- Greeting your customers with a smile and professionally is a great way to start.
- Calling your customers after they have had a chance to use your product is a good way to promote that you care about their experiences with your organization. It can also create an opportunity to make more sales.
