When it comes to marketing and advertising, one of the things that everyone wants to guarantee is a return on investment.
Most people are deathly afraid of wasting money on ads. Nobody wants to chunk a ton of money in and not make that money — and more! — back as a result of the effort.
For the most part, the fear is irrational.
There are many business owners who will waste $3 every day on a cup of coffee that gets them no fiscal ROI, but wouldn’t dare spend $100/mo on ads that have the ability to yield big returns. People will spend hundreds, if not thousands, per month on entertainment (golf, satellite TV, dining, etc.) — all activities and efforts with typically very low ROI — but are resistant to spend money hiring a marketing coach unless that coach comes with a guarantee.
It’s not that most people don’t want to invest in advertising. If there were a way to guarantee ROI, most people would jump in with both feet. But unlike all the other fixed costs — rent, payroll, inventory, etc — marketing is often viewed as optional and is often the first to go, simply because there is no guarantee of ROI.
Being conscientious of your spending and cash flow is important, but when that caution moves to paralysis, you and your business or organization are in big trouble.
Guess what…there’s no guarantee with any of your other fixed expenses either. There’s no guarantee that your building will pay for itself. There’s no guarantee that the new employee you hired will make you money.
If you don’t demand an up-front guarantee on all your other fixed expenses, what makes you think it’s logical to demand an upfront guarantee on marketing?
But the ironic thing is, whereas it will be difficult to know if your building, employees, etc. will provide you with an ROI (and with training of employees, spin-up-time for buildings, etc. it’s almost guaranteed they won’t provide ROI right away), most advertising is practically guaranteed to work. In today’s digital marketing environment, it’s easy to track metrics and make fast micro-adjustments that virtually guarantee success if you’re working with the right marketing team.
Though most people perceive that marketing is risky, losing money with advertising is actually a pretty reasonless fear.
Advertising has worked for centuries — and in a pretty primitive state at that — and it can work with even better results in today’s digital environment.
So, stop being a scaredy cat, stop demanding an upfront ROI, and instead budget some money for marketing and advertising. If you’d like some help getting the ROI you’re looking for, give us a call.