The Cost of Marketing

I have meet with hundreds of small business owners for many different reasons, for everything from websites to marketing. Do you know how often someone moves forward with a marketing package? 1% of the time!

Do you know why? It is always the same reason. They have put so much money into getting everything else done for the business that they have no budget marketing.

Research shows you should expect to spend 10-20% of projected or actual gross income each year in marketing. Start up fees for branding, websites and social media can range anywhere from $2000 on the lowest end up to ten's of thousands of dollars.

It doesn't matter if you have the most amazing product or service in the world if no one knows that you have it. Marketing and branding is one of the most important aspects of any business. Once you have your idea or service you have to let people know about it and you have to make sure it looks appealing.

I know that sometimes self-made websites or branding is all that is possible, but I do recommend against it. When potential customers see your logo, website, etc. they make a quick judgement on your product. If your website looks messy or there are lots of grammatical errors, customers will make a snap judgement that your product or service is too.

If you are thinking about starting a new business make sure to allocate funds in your initial start up costs to brand and market your product properly.

You may complain about the cost of marketing, but what is the cost if you don't?