The 7 Step Challenge - Does Your Marketing Company Measure Up?
You're an entrepreneur. You work hard, you fail, you try again. You survive and thrive because you're relentless and determined to succeed. But your marketing company is letting you down, not delivering on all their promises like they should be.
Here are 7 Steps to finding a new marketing company that will never let you down again:
1) Request some free consultations with potential companies: take this time to ask the right questions about what they can do for your business; be sure to have a list of expectations ready beforehand so that they know exactly what needs to happen if they want a chance at bringing your business more success in the future.
2) Interview at least 3 marketing companies: you need to make sure that the companies you meet are a good fit for your business and have the resources and experience to help you succeed.
3) Ask about their past experience: it's important to know exactly who you're working with so do your research and ask questions like how many clients they've worked with, what prior successes they've had, and how long they've been in business.
4) Set appointments: now that you know more about the potential marketing companies, set up some time to meet them in person so that they can get an idea of who you are as a business owner. The better the relationship, the more successful your marketing will be.
5) Negotiate a contract: you don't have to do this on your own, you can bring a friend with you for support. Make sure that everyone is on the same page about what needs to be done and what the expectations are for moving forward.
6) Set some goals: if you don't set any expectations, no one will know what they're supposed to be working towards. You need to know how well your marketing campaign is going to plan so that you can push them to do better while they work with you; create deadlines and check in often so that both of you agree upon goals that lead to success.
7) Be ready to make changes: it's easy to become comfortable with a marketing company and not push them until it's time for them to move on; you need to be willing to switch companies if that's what will make your business thrive, otherwise stay with the one that is doing well and seems more successful than others.
What did you do when your marketing was failing? What worked well for you? Share your lessons learned in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you!
For more details on this whitepaper, click here . And don't forget, if you have any questions or comments on any of our content, send us an email at contact@the7stepchallenge.com !
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robert W. Allen is the founder of the 7 Step Challenge and a #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of lots of internet marketing guides, eBook's and training videos. His most recent book, Marketing Unlocked is a no-nonsense guide to building your business with the help of advertising, marketing automation & other online techniques.
In less than 10 years as an internet marketer he has helped thousands of small business owners around the world build their own successful online businesses. He's taught thousands more how to do it better than they ever dreamed possible...and how to stop being average in such a cutthroat digital economy. - Learn More About Robert W. Allen & The 7 Step Challenge Here .
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How do you determine your marketing budget? My time, effort and money are all limited, so I have a hard time determining how much is needed for my marketing. This is true for me because I have clients from a variety of industries. Do you have a method for budgeting your marketing budget based on your business needs?
To learn more about this topic, visit my blog post at: http://the7stepchallenge.com/2014/01/02/how-much-should-i-be-spending-on-my-marketing/ Reply Delete
I like the idea of determining costs per desired action or desired result. Your costs are fixed and known; you can look at how many people completed a desired action and what they spent to get there. Looking at the contribution margin will help you allocate more money towards marketing if you have the budget. For example, you may know that 20% of your users convert to a paid plan and spend $700, but then only spend $100 on marketing. You can adjust this by spending more to get those 20% - or less if you're content with getting 80% of the users for free. If results are still good (your sales/users/whatever is growing), then continue investing more in your marketing - because it's working. This is a lot easier to do than trying to figure out beforehand how much should be spent on marketing based on the type of business, etc. I've never done this, but I can see how it might work. Reply Delete
The idea is that you make a list of goals set out as specific targets (for example, increase blog traffic by 15% each month or increase sales by 10% each month) and then work out the cost to do that. Then you can evaluate whether the actions you are taking are making the required difference or not. You could also adjust the target based on outcomes and re-estimate your costs against those targets. I like this approach because it is simple and it makes you think about what you really want to achieve every month - even if it is increasing sales by 1%. Reply Delete
I don't think I have ever used a marketing budget. I do the same thing - guess at how much to pay and then go out and try it all. It works for me. Reply Delete
Let's start with some basic answers:
How much capital do you have available to fund marketing spend? How much are you willing to spend on marketing? Are you budgeting for short term or long term spend? I believe there are some principles that could help gain some insight into these answers … especially if we apply them to an online business! 1) The less capital you have, the more likely your business will focus on getting customers through word of mouth.
Conclusion: If your business is a large part of your livelihood, you need to spend money on marketing.
2) The more capital you have, the more likely your business will focus on developing branded awareness.
Conclusion: If your business is not a large part of your livelihood, you may need marketing if/when you grow. I've always found this to be true - it may just take some time to grow enough that one is not too reliant on their business for day-to-day living. 3) Short term budgeting gives you an increased opportunity to control the ROI of buying marketing.