If I had a pound for every time a prospective client told me they’d love to invest in their marketing and brand and that they’d do it as soon as their business started making more money, I would have, well, a fair few pounds!
In fact we had this conversation only this week with a company that we used to do work for, that has since changed hands. The new owner is keen to make the business work but isn’t getting the results that they want – yet they are reluctant to invest in the business further until it starts generating more in come.
The thing is, whilst I know it’s hard to make an investment when your business isn’t performing in the way that you want it to, what is the better alternative? Carry on as you are and hope for something to just ‘happen’ to help turn things around?
Doing the same things and expecting different results is the very definition of madness according to Einstein.
If you aren’t getting the profile, clients, customers, sales and profits from your business that you want, it’s a very clear sign that something needs to change. And often that thing is how you are trying to get the business in in the first place – in essence, your brand and marketing.
Marketing activity doesn’t have to be expensive and you absolutely can bootstrap a lot of the elements – we have helped clients to run very successful campaigns with very modest marketing spends. Small businesses today have never had more ways in which to get their message in front of their prospective clients and customers but many small businesses have never had so much competition either. And just because you have the tools, it doesn’t mean that you always have the best ideas and plans for using them.
We believe in working WITH small business, not just FOR them – giving them the tools, skills and confidence they need to move forwards with their own marketing, reducing the need to work with a company like ours long term. We do this though shorter term actives like marketing coaching, training sessions in areas such as e-marketing and social media. A marketing ideas and planning session costs under £100. We have worked with clients for just a few weeks who have made changes in their business and marketing that has lead to increased sales and profits in a relatively short amount of time.
Great branding and design doesn’t have to cost the earth either, we have logo packages from £350+VAT and a really great small business package which is just £1595+VAT and includes a logo and brand identity, a responsive and content managed website, a business card including 500 printed and 4 x 1 hour marketing coaching sessions. Two half days of marketing consultancy and planning is just £400+VAT and believe me, you can achieve a lot in just one day with us!
But prices aside, can you afford NOT to start investing in your business, when you aren’t heading in the direction to want to and every month seems like a struggle?
If you’ve been trying to make headway for a while without a marketing spend, or if you’ve invested in some marketing activity that hasn’t worked out, perhaps now is the time to make a change?
If you’d like to talk to us about how we can help you break the deadlock and start getting better results, please do get in touch. Initial chats won’t cost you a penny and hopefully you will start to feel more confident and encouraged that things can and will change when you make a small investment in your marketing!