There are no trophies for just showing up

The world is a competitive place. In our heart we all know that to win takes effort, sometimes huge effort, and even total dedication. We adore and admire our Olympians that have proved themselves to be the best in the world, but we barely know the names of those who have never won a medal.

The digital age has offered huge benefits to those that are prepared to make the effort, so why do so many of us build a web site and consider that effort enough?

All of us prefer doing things we enjoy, that’s human nature, but if you don’t enjoy building your online properties, web site, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. then you really should give the job to someone else as it VERY IMPORTANT.

So here are a few of options:

1. Find someone within your business that’s interested in the web site and get them trained up to do the job properly. Not just technically but the research, how to create great content, where to focus their limited time and how to optimise for search. Two days training will get anyone that has an interest and basic aptitude up to speed.
2. Outsource the work. Invest in getting an expert to work on your digital properties for a day a month. The difference this will make to your business is simply incredible.
3. Use an external digital marketer to create regular content for your site or social properties.
4. Use an expert to review your online presence quarterly and make recommendations to help grow your business.

HOW DO I WORK OUT A BUDGET?

In my experience most small businesses don’t have a marketing budget so how do they work out what to spend to achieve their goals?

Give these simple questions some thought:

• Ask yourself what a new client is worth, over 12 months (or lifetime if you can estimate this). I work on 12months and assume all revenue after that is a bonus.
• What’s the profit from the client?
• How much am I prepared to pay to acquire a new client? As I work on 12 months and rarely lose a client I use 50% as my acquisition cost but your business will be different.
• How many new clients do I want in the next 12 months?

Here’s an example:

• Average client value over 12 months – £3000
• Profit at 50% – £1500
• I am prepared to invest 50% of the profit to get a new client – £750
• I want 24 new clients in the next 12 months

You now need a budget of 24 x £750 = £18000 to acquire 24 new clients.

My business is fairly small but I spend about 15% of my overall revenue on client acquisition. Without this my business would stop growing and ultimately fail so for me this is incredibly important.

If you’d like to talk your options through with me at no charge with no obligation then drop me an email at alan.tomkins@alpha-tango.co.uk or give me a call.