Three Keys to Marketing Success

REMEMBER THE BASICS

If you own a small business you know that your marketing plans are important. Trying to keep up with the latest trends can be frustrating, but it always helps to remember the basics. Take a breath and consider THREE SIMPLE FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES that will contribute to your marketing success:

• Establish a budget
• Measure results
• Connect the dots

ESTABLISH A BUDGET

Effective marketing efforts take both time and money. You can emphasize one more than the other, but you don't get much for free and without effort. The "free" Website that your nephew builds for you might not be your best bet. You'll probably get what you paid for.

There are lots of ways to approach a marketing budget, but you first have to decide that you're going to set one up. If you don't prepare to have a war chest it's not likely to happen.

Establish a Savings Plan. Set regular intervals (quarterly or whatever) and set aside a portion of the revenues.

"What's the right percentage for me?" There's not a universal answer to that question. It depends on the nature and stage of your business. Some have suggested 2-3% for an established business and 3-5% for a startup. That begs the next question; "3% of WHAT? Profits? Revenues?" Again, there's no universal answer: A recent article made suggestions for various industries that included the following examples among many others:

- Consumer Package Goods: Up to 50% of projected net sales to launch a new product
- Industrial Business to Business: 1% of gross sales
- Retail: 4-10% of net revenues

Sorry, they didn't include anything about car detailing. The main thing is to think ahead and prepare.

Find the Free Stuff. Now I'm going to contradict myself. There are ways to get free publicity and you can use cross-marketing (some call it fusion marketing) practices. Take advantage of those as often as you can. But make sure they're a good fit for you and remember to measure the results.

MEASURE YOUR RESULTS

You can't measure the direct effect of every marketing dollar spent but it's important to measure what you can. New customers come to you for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's multiple factors working together, like a radio ad and a personal recommendation.

But have a method of keeping a record of what's working. Here are some suggestions:

- Train your staff to ask, "How did you hear about us?" and record the responses.
- Monitor your web traffic, including what keywords were used to find you.
- Use dedicated phone numbers to track which ads were most effective.
- Do some A/B testing with your direct mail pieces.

The list can go on forever, but measure what you can to get a general idea of which efforts are paying off.

CONNECT THE DOTS

Make sure your efforts are harmonized. They should work together well. I recently found an industrial video on YouTube that had been uploaded by a machine shop. The video was informative and well done. But there was no way to find them. They should have referenced their website. When I finally did find their site it didn't mention their YouTube channel. The time and effort put into the video could have paid off a lot more if they'd connected the dots.

Don't leave loose ends like that. Make your marketing pieces work in concert with each other. As the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

HERE ARE THREE ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR YOU
7 Secrets of a Good Marketing Budget
How Much Should I be Spending?
Developing a Small Business Marketing Budget

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Want help with your marketing efforts? Find out more about Steve Smart and 2Q Solutions or connect with him on Facebook.