Invest in your business with a marketing budget

If you want to succeed at business, you need to grow. One of the best ways to grow is to invest in marketing.

Every business has unique marketing needs, but these days it’s safe to say that every business should be investing in internet marketing of some kind.

How much should your internet marketing budget be? For most small businesses the answer is 10 to 15 percent of sales. (The sad truth… most businesses only spend what they have to, which is often next to nothing. Imagine the lost growth potential.)

In which kinds of internet marketing should you be investing?

• Website development. It all starts here. Without a modern, mobile-friendly website that is search engine optimized, you are swimming upstream.
• Search engine optimization (SEO). Depending on how competitive your field is, you may need to spend thousands on SEO each month. “Ridiculous,” you may say. Why spend so much? The answer lies in your competition. They are investing heavily in it and they will bury you if you don’t fight back. Who said business is fair?
• Video production. Every business should have at least one video that describes their business’ unique selling proposition. Most businesses should have a video at the top of every service page of their website. Don’t go it alone… use a firm that has the audio, video, and editing skills to make you stand out from your competition.
• Photography. Most businesses create wonderful products, but they don’t invest in having them photographed for use on their website, video, or other marketing materials.
• Google. Ensuring your Google business profile is accurate. In fact, many businesses have still failed to claim their business listing on Google, let alone had it populated completely with photos, video, description, hours, correct map locator, etc.
• Social media. Regardless of your business category, every business should be participating in social media of some kind to spread the word, as well as engage customers.
• Reputation management. Not surprisingly, many businesses have at least one zero-star rating on Google. Surprisingly, so many business owners don’t even realize that the bad review is out there… let alone realize that the bad review could be costing them to lose customers every single day.

If you don’t already use the services of a dedicated internet marketing firm, the time to start is right now. The return on investment is there.

And, if you already have an internet marketing firm, take a look at what they have done for you lately. How to know? Start at www.google.com and search for your business or service. You may be surprised what you see (or don’t see).

An internet marketing audit – one of our most recommended services and where we start with every one of our clients – reveals all your faults.

And we can recommend how to fix them.

But it all begins with having an internet marketing budget that enables us to help your business grow.