“If you can’t afford marketing, you aren’t charging enough.”
So said a speaker at the #searchlove event – as tweeted by Patrick McKenzie.
I thought it was an astute observation.
But then I started to think of variations…
- “If you can’t afford marketing, you have too many expenses.”
- “If you can’t afford marketing, you need to improve your conversion rate.”
- “If you can’t afford marketing, good luck growing your business.”
How would you finish that sentence?
“If you can’t afford marketing, ______________________.”
Leave a comment to share your version.
-Ryan M. Healy
About Ryan M. Healy
Ryan Healy is a direct response copywriter. Since 2002, he has worked with scores of clients, including BoostCTR, Alex Mandossian, Terry Dean, and Pulte Homes. He writes a popular blog about copywriting, advertising, and business growth, has been featured in publications like Feed Front magazine, and is a regular contributor to WordStream.com, BoostCTR.com, and MarketingForSuccess.com.
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{ 22 comments }
But of course, it’s a Catch 22. You need the marketing to get the clients who will give you the money you need to afford marketing.
Most of us realize too late that we should have capital to invest in marketing *before* we start a business. ;-)
Good point, Janet. :-)
Or another twist on that thought:
“If you can’t afford marketing, you’re not charging enough — but charging more is going to be difficult, maybe impossible.”
“If you can’t afford marketing, you’d better hope you have no competitors.”
(But I think the original’s hard to improve on…)
– Pete
Building on the theme – “If you can’t afford marketing, then marketing is EXACTLY what you need.”
Ian
Good one.
If you can’t afford marketing, stop going to Starbucks everyday and pump that money into an Adwords campaign.
Haha… so many people work at Starbucks or Panera because of the free wi-fi.
Some really don’t have enough to go to Starbucks every day or to market. Of course, if you really can’t afford marketing, you may need to wait before you start your business.
Realized as I finished my comment to Paul – that’s one right there:
If you can’t afford marketing, you’re not ready to start your business.
Start planning and saving – and then start it up.
I agree with this one: “If you can’t afford marketing, you have too many expenses.”
So many businesses have out of control finances and their priorities just aren’t on the right things, like controlling their budget. Many don’t have much of an idea where their money goes or, if they do, whether each of those expenditures is the best choice. Several times, I’ve seen management make purchasing decisions based on their relationship with salesmen instead of listening to their own staff. They’ll go with the vendor which costs twice as much for a lower quality part because their rep buys the office staff lunch once a month or takes the CEO golfing. I’ve found room in client’s budgets for my cost by advocating for employees with smart ideas who have no voice within the organization.
That also brings up another point that a lot of businesses simply aren’t prepared for any kind of increase in volume. You double the conversion rate of their advertisements and six months later the company implodes because the increase in orders bogs their workflow and they stop being able to meet deadlines.
Dan, you nailed the increase in volume problem! That happened with one of my companies once. We did an extremely successful promotion and added hundreds of customers from a one hour webinar and ended up spending the next 5 days or so just fulfilling on everything while everything else fell wayside. We even ended up hiring some of our friends for the data entry pieces because our workflow was in such shambles >_<
“If you can’t afford marketing, you’d better start looking for a job, because the end of your business is near.”
But then you also have to start saving money for a resume writer who can write a more-than-ho-hum resume, so you actually have a chance to get a job.
“If you can’t afford marketing then your business model is broken”
Dr. G :-)
PS – Ryan, how the heck are you?
Hey Dr. G – I’m doing great. You?
I like your variation – most definitely a broken business model if you can’t afford marketing.
If you “can’t afford marketing” then you:
- need to learn what your cost per sale is.
- need to learn what the lifetime value of each customer is.
- need to change your marketing so the lifetime value is much greater than the cost per sale.
- don’t understand marketing isn’t an expense when it’s done correctly.
If you still can’t afford marketing then you shouldn’t be in business.
Great list, Matt. :-)
I’m with Mr Fox
… it’s because you don’t appreciate (or know) the lifetime value of each customer.
If you can’t afford marketing, you need to be more resourceful.
Nice post Ryan.
If you can’t afford marketing … you obviously haven’t heard of facebook pages or twitter and the power of building brand through building relationships
If you can’t afford marketing, go for some free ways. There’s still you can find on Internet plus using your skills.
Something of a variation on other comments but…
“If you can’t afford marketing you haven’t run the numbers properly”.
I confess I’ve been reading up on Info-marketing models lately so numbers are more on the mind than usual!
Thanks for the post and nice example of an “involvement device” (hey, you got me to comment)!
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