I’m Ashamed To Admit This…
By Anna Johnson on August 16th, 2008This is truly shameful.
I call myself a marketer. I provide marketing products and services. I publish a 6-day-per-week marketing newsletter.
But when it comes to investing in marketing, exactly what percentage of company expenses do I spend on marketing?
Let me explain…
We’re finalizing our end-of-year financial reports (the financial year ends on June 30 each year in Australia). Although I should keep MUCH better track of these things, the fact is I am not the numbers person I should probably be.
Yes, I’m a big believer in ITTI (innovating, testing, tracking and improving) and it’s the numbers that indicate the extent of any improvements (or lack thereof), but this is a learned skill… not one that has come naturally to me. So I have a tendency to keep track of some numbers… and not others…
So when it came to finally evaluating our annual performance and seeing the numbers in the cold light of day, I was shocked to see how little our company actually spent on paid-for marketing initiatives last year.
Now I should say that this figure does NOT reflect the time we devote to marketing, which is considerable… but it does reflect a “tightwad” mentality. A mentality that is, I must admit, a
carry-over from (a) building two companies with negligible startup capital, and (b) being too product oriented.
So what’s the damage? Well, our spending on advertising and marketing services constituted just 2 percent last year.
That’s right, an anemic 2 percent!
Granted, we poured a lot of our budget into development last year (and still are – if you’re familiar with DomainerIncome.com… you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!) so that was bound to reduce the percentage spent on other things.
But I’ve always thought that the bulk, if not a significant percentage of ANY business’s expenses should be invested in marketing. If anything, there should be NO upper limit as long as the amount spent on marketing is generating a sufficient return on investment (ROI). So the fact that we haven’t followed our own advice is, indeed, shameful.
Moreover, we’ve left money on the table!
So that’s my embarrassing admission… but what about YOU? Have you been fed the myth that Internet marketing is all about freebie marketing tactics and avoiding any marketing initiatives that cost money?
Probably not. Let’s face it, no serious business skimps on marketing.
For us, it’s time to get serious!
