CHAPTER 3 - WHERE TO START

How much should I spend?

How much should you spend on marketing activities? There is no wrong or right answer here. Maybe the right answer is as little as possible while still achieving your goals. I have spent between 8% and 15% of my budget on marketing. I would try to cap it around 10% max, though. With that amount, I was able to stay in massive growth mode year after year and still sustain a healthy profit. Spend as little as possible while still achieving your goals.

Marketing Mix

Have a good one. Print, digital, and referral should all be part of your strategy. In this book, we cover 147 different marketing methods you can use in your business. They can all be pigeonholed into one of three categories: print, digital, or referral. It is extremely important that you don’t attempt all these methods at once. It would lead to instant failure.

Experiment with maybe five of these methods at once. Make sure they span the three categories mentioned. This helps you hedge your bets and expand your opportunities. Basically, it makes it so you are not putting all your eggs in one basket. It opens you up to a wider segment of customers. You’ll never be able to reach all your potential customers across one method.

Budgeting

You could spend millions of dollars on the stuff we have been talking about. But you don’t need to. Do not overspend, and don’t go over budget. Staying within the confines of your budget will keep you profitable, and it will help you be more creative.

Although you don’t want to be cheap, continue to think about how you can get more accomplished for less. Where can you save? Here is a budget template to get you started. Get into this, and plug in your costs.

One Full Marketing Day Per Month

According to Michael Masterson, author of Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat, a CEO founder should spend upward of 70% of their time on marketing and sales activities.

I believe that to be true, but you can’t do that when you are just starting out, because you are wearing all the hats: window cleaner, bookkeeper, etc. But it is something to work toward. At the very least, set up one day a month to focus in. Dedicate ten straight uninterrupted hours where you study, analyze, and work on marketing activities.

Here is roughly how you should spend those ten hours a month:

1. Review—How did the previous month go? Study your reports. What marketing tactics did you use this month, and what were the results? What was a hit, and what was a miss?

2. Analyze—Crunch the numbers, and tie all your revenue from the previous month to a marketing method. What were your conversion rates on each method?

3. Interpret—What do your reports tell you? What do you need to do more of, and what do you need to do less of?

4. Create—Do you need to create new things for the upcoming month or quarter? Or did things go so well last month that you’re not going to change a thing?

5. Plan—Review your marketing calendar for the next month and quarter. What’s coming up, and what things do you need to do and coordinate? What’s the next action?

Download the free month-in-review template. It will help you evaluate your numbers and plan your next month’s activities.

Set aside one day per month to review your marketing, your ads, your reports, your marketing calendar, etc. Compare and benchmark to the previous period. The important thing here is that you do this. Great insights can come out of great focus. Spend the time on it, and make it a priority. Your business will thank you for it.

Marketing Calendar

You are much more likely to stick to and execute a marketing plan if it is calendarized. I recommend you create a yearly calendar, which will show what marketing methods you have done and are planning to do. This is simple. Go to Google Calendar, find the “My Calendar link and click “Create Marketing Calendar.” Enter some things you are planning to do in the next month.