Marketing is an investment, not a cost!

Why do I say it like this? 

I’m sure you have seen it one way or another since COVID-19 hit the world. Companies have started spending less and less and making cuts wherever they can.

Usually marketing is the first thing that goes. AND THAT IS A BIG MISTAKE!  

It may sound obvious at the beginning to cut costs on something that doesn’t seem vital, but it requires a lot more than just having an account and replying to a couple of messages while posting a pretty picture.

Why is Marketing important?

Marketing is the communication strategy you need to reach out to clients in the most effective, clear, and engaging way so you stay at the top of their minds, and further, so they associate your brand with key ideas (quality, excellence, you name it) 

When business is tough, you need to step up on the marketing, not cut down.

Let me show you why, with an example:  A small, family-owned dry cleaning business.

When COVID-19 hit, the first thing they did was cut their marketing spending.

(It’s important to note that 80% of their business came from clients passing by, dropping off their clothes in store and picking them up.)

As people stopped going out, they stopped getting new clothes.  Some were picking up old stuff (many of them had been at the shop for months) and that helped the revenue a bit, but by May, the place was deserted. They had to close down for a month and when they opened, it was a ghost town.

That’s when we got the call as marketing specialists to help them. They were desperate and didn’t know what to do.

Marketing is not designed to be a one way street.  It’s an open medium for communication. 

So they started calling some of their best customers the company had (oldest or biggest spenders) asking them why they were not coming. The top 3 answers were:

1. We didn’t know you had opened again
2. We are afraid to go out into the streets
3. We changed to another company because we didn’t hear from you.

We had a solution for each of course, and all of them required marketing skills.

1. We didn’t know you were open:  This is the most basic and it sounds obvious, but after a month out of the game, you need a push to let your clients know you are back open, not only social media, but phone calls and emails, especially in such a service based industry like a dry cleaners.
2. We are afraid to go out:  These clients would have never been placed in such a compromise with a very basic CRM (Customer Relationship Management) strategy.  If there was an open line of communication with the VIPs, the pick-up service would’ve made sure that they were tended to, especially if they were offered a discount for continuing with the service.
3. We changed to another company because we didn’t hear from you:  These customers were not so easy, and at least half of them did not come back, but they are the biggest lesson. Clients that spend a lot and that have been with you for a while deserve to hear from you and need to hear from you.  They are the backbone of your revenue, and if you decide to stop communicating to save a couple dollars, it won’t matter how much money you saved throughout those three months. The losses you will endure in the long run and the investment needed to gain new clients is always going to be bigger than the investment you would’ve made in keeping them.

There are a million reasons why you should NOT cut back on marketing.

It is the foundation of the relationship with your current and your could be customers, and they are the lifeline of your business.

So #BossYourFuture and focus on your marketing

Did you know that Academy of Entrepreneurs has a new Digital Marketing Course starting on August 31st

Click here to download the flyer

And contact Annaliese at info@aestudy.com to find out how you can win apply!