Should I invest in marketing? Consider these 4 areas first.
There comes a time for every creative business – big or small – when they wonder whether they should invest in marketing. It’s not that they don’t want to market their business, but often they have concerns about the value and return on the investment. And let’s be honest, a lot of marketing is about creating a perception of your brand and business, and that can be hard to measure in real terms. However, there are areas to consider when weighing up your options and these can make the decision-making process much clearer. Let’s look at 4 areas we talk through with our clients that you can apply to your creative business:
Expectations and KPI ‘s
(key performance indicators)
It’s important to set some parameters to measure success. This comes down to what is most important to you to get out of a marketing campaign. Some areas to consider are:
More leads: how many per month would be ideal for you?
More contacts / direct relationships: what signifies a ‘good’ contact for you, and how many of these would you like to have per month?
Leads converting to sales: of the leads you acquire, how many per month/bi-month/quarter would you like to see converted to real clients or sales?
Value of sales conversion: of the converted leads, what sales/dollar value (or range) would you like to see each be worth?
Refining your focus to test the waters
Marketing can be a big commitment to take on, especially if you’re considering a multi-pronged approach for marketing across a number of areas of your business.
Consider whether you wish to ‘test the waters’ first by refining your focus to one specific area that you want to drive.
For example, you might like to focus solely on a particular program or service you’re developing. If so, really refine that program so it’s exactly as you want it then use marketing to put it out into the market place. The same applies if you have a design project or product you want your audience to know more about.
What happens if you do the same as what you’re doing now?
Look at what you’re doing now and how this is working. If it’s working ok and you feel it will be more successful with consistency, then go with that approach and knuckle down on it until you’re ready to take the next step.
If it’s not working, ask yourself - what needs to change and in what areas of my business? This will probably lead you back to ‘refining your focus’ as an initial step.
Marketing as a long term game
Keep in mind that any marketing campaign takes time to see results. It will rarely be immediate and I like clients to keep in mind that you will likely see results after 6 months of a consistent approach.
Marketing is a long game, and as much as I’d love to say you can get results immediately, it’s not a realistic expectation.
If you market consistently on a weekly or monthly basis over 6-12 month period, you will always see a change in brand perception and knowledge of who you are as a bare minimum. And for that alone, the investment of time or money can be enough to take a leap into marketing.