How Much Should I Focus on Marketing?

First off, what is marketing?

Nothing happens without a sale. Sales happen more often when the process is structured and predictable. That is where marketing makes things happen.

Marketing is not sales. Marketing is not advertising. Marketing is the businesses’ road map (or Google Map, for my Millennial audience).

The marketing equivalent in various countries around the world is the intelligence service. It is the CIA in the U.S. It is MI6 in the UK. In your business, you need to think of marketing as the super-spy people that understand what the competitors (enemies) are up to and what is going on in the minds of target customers.

How much focus should I put on marketing?

If you want your sales team to close more deals, customers to be more satisfied, or your bottom line to be more profitable, then you have to invest in marketing.

Established businesses like Apple and Coca-Cola spend 3% of their annual revenue on marketing. Start-up businesses need to spend more, however; I recommend you keep the budget at or under 6%. If you are spending more than 6% of your annual revenue on marketing, you are not being strategic and laser-like in your approach.

As for a non-monetary focus on marketing, I always follow these simple principles:

1. Know who your target customer is.
2. Know more about your target customer than anyone else.
3. Know what your distinctive excellence is that serves your target customer.
4. Know what your target customer ‘listens’ to. We are bombarded each and every day with about 12,000 marketing messages. That is about one every 12-seconds. That is a lot of confusing clutter. What does your target customer pay-attention to? Know that and you will not waste time, energy or money.
5. Measure everything. Everything your marketing team does should have predictable outcomes. For example, how will web traffic convert to sales? If you are going to do any form of promotion, what is the expected outcome and how will you know? If you can’t measure your programs, you might as well stand on the corner and throw $5 bills at passing cars. Eventually, something will stick to someone’s windshield.

Marketing is an investment. Just like putting cash into savings, stocks or mutual funds you expect a return, however; like investing, it needs to be strategic and well thought out.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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