Is Your Marketing Balanced?

IS YOUR MARKETING BALANCED?  

John Hopkins BSPNZ                                                                                                      

The biggest challenge for most SME’S I am working with right now is a loss of base sale volume. For many, Lockdown has caused their business to stall and the challenge right now is in restarting that stalled business motor. A business fails when it loses its sales inertia and stalls.

Ok, we have all cut what expenses we can, looked at what we can do to increase our gross profit percentage, looked at ‘pivoting’ (the new buzz word which I hate!), injected more cash, sorted a positive mindset, enrolled in a covid course/seminar, etc … but all these things will only offer limited success until we tackle loss of sales volume.

So, how do you win back your sales volume right now? The simple answer is you have to market your product or service. But the real question to ask is how best to market your product or service right now? What is going to give you best bang for buck?

As with most things that come across confusing, and marketing is, I like to simplify. I view marketing as having 2 sides, a balanced yin yang of sorts. Both are equal in value, both need each other for balance, both have different objectives.

First half of the yin yang I call indirect. It is gathering. It is those activities that attract customers to buy. It is a sign above the door, branding exercises, etc … things that say hey I am here. In a bull market this marketing is sometimes all you need to drive sales. All business should have some forms indirect marketing going.

Second half of the yin yang I call direct. It is hunting. It is those activities that bring your product/service direct to your customer. Cold calls, database marketing, upselling, phone calls, etc … things that ask for the order. This side of marketing is a lot of work but in retracting market necessary. All business should have forms of direct marketing on the go (Looking for inspiration Grant Cardone The 10X Rule worth the read).

Coming out of lockdown, needing to grow sales, what percentage of your marketing is indirect versus direct? Which side should you be investing in right now?