The one thing I hate hearing in business is: “We’ve only got a limited marketing budget”. And I hear it all the time. It’s ridiculous. Why would you limit the amount of customers you have? Every form of marketing you do will have a return. That’s one of the key reasons my insurance company Staysure has grown so quickly. OK, so you haven’t got a million quid to spend on marketing. Have you got £3000? Then spend it. Test every channel that’s available. Technology means you can measure the impact and effectiveness of a campaign far more accurately than ever before. When you’ve found a channel that works for you spend as much as you can. Experiment with different approaches. Something as simple as using a new colour in your marketing material can resonate in way a previous campaign didn’t.
Scrap the Budget
All my businesses have been cash flow positive. That sounds like something your accountant would tell you, so let my put in plain English. In simple terms, if I’m paid by my customers before I have to pay my suppliers, I’m in a “cash flow positive business”. If your business is the same, you can use your customers’ money to market your own business – and win new clients who will give you even more money so you can do the same again. It’s a self- propagating process. That is when you really start going forward as a business. It means you don’t need to borrow money from the bank or bring in outside investors to grow – and grow fast. Just make sure you have the infrastructure in place to cope with the extra business. There’s no point winning another 100 customers if you haven’t hired enough staff to answer the phones or reply to all those emails.
