Many business owners (especially those that hate marketing and just want to see the phones ring) neglect their marketing mix, moving from year to year with little clue as to what tactics are working and what aren’t.
One of the first things that we focus on when working with a new client is their current marketing mix. We can come up with all the great ideas in the world, but their existing tactics could be leaking money that could be redistributed towards tactics that are going to work.
How to bring accountability to your marketing spend
- Make a list of your annual marketing activities
- Work out the percentage of your budget that they each account for
- Estimate their effectiveness on a scale of 1-10
- Note next to each if the tactic’s cost is rising (yes/no)
- Note next to each if the tactic is becoming less effective (yes/no)
- Note next to each if the tactic is becoming more effective (yes/no)
With this information you can work out what’s a sinking ship, what is worth pursuing with for another year and what to invest heavily in. I encourage you to try this and see how it can make each of your tactics accountable and reduce your marketing budget waste.