Streetwise marketing techniques to grow your business

Create a trackable and scaleable marketing strategy with these essential tips

The golfing analogy ‘drive for show, putt for dough’ perfectly encapsulates how business owners should approach their marketing strategy right now. In the past, people would have spent a lot of money on what we call ‘brand building marketing’, whereas right now, more than ever, it’s got to be about getting people to initiate a purchase.

The difference between streetwise marketing and brand building marketing is that streetwise marketing will generate a measurable return on investment. Essentially, you’ve got to be able to track your marketing activity – it’s no longer about just getting eyeballs, it’s all about getting the transaction.

In my eyes, any strategy that establishes a call to action and builds a transaction is a good thing. Despite the current situation we’re in, people haven’t simply stopped buying – actually, there are some businesses that are really thriving right now. So, with that being said, now is the time to double your marketing; your business really needs to stand out. As of late, I’ve personally stepped up with my own marketing: it’s never been so cheap and I’m getting a lot more cut through now than I ever have and also getting a lot more engagement.

Here are some steps to follow to ensure that you’re marketing your business in the most efficient way possible:

1 Step it up a gear

You need to treat your marketing budget as an investment rather than a cost: it’s an investment to get a return further down the line. Businesses that are cutting their investments right now are being rather short-sighted. At a time when people are stepping back from their marketing, media owners are craving people to step forward and create valuable content.

Ensure that you have a scaleable and predictable marketing programme. Imagine there was a magical cash machine that operated in a different way to how a typical ATM would. With this cash machine, instead of entering your bank card, you put £20 into it and every time you do that, you got £50 in return. Ask yourself the question: how many times would you put £20 into that magical cash machine? You’d put in as many £20 notes as you can find, right? Your marketing needs to be exactly the same.

2. Marketing is just a numbers game

I’ve been very lucky to have ran some of the world’s biggest marketing budgets: I used to work for Audi and launch cars for a living; I was the marketing director running across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for ExxonMobil and ran a $100m annual marketing budget. A lot of my previous work involved building brand awareness as opposed to building transactions. Business owners need to understand the numbers that sit behind their marketing activity.

One thing to get to grips with early on in the process is to understand what the return on investment is. Measure it using metrics like cost-per-lead and cost-per-customer. If you know those numbers, it’s then predictable and scaleable: you then have access to that proverbial cash machine. You’re now in that advantageous position where you know that if it costs you £20 to buy a customer and you get a return of £50, you’ll keep spending the money wisely and driving more investment... download the report to read the full article