I
read an interesting (and disturbing) statistic recently from Forbes. It stated
that 45% of CEOs agree that ‘marketing efforts are wasting money’.
Yes,
I’m an accountant (and proud of it) but I’m also a business owner. In many
respects I’m in a unique position. I not only have to run and build our firm, I
also get to advise dozens of other business owners (our clients) on growing
their firms, making sure their financial management is as good as it can be,
and ensuring they don’t pay a penny more in tax than they have to.
However,
we are different to most accountants because we take an active role in helping
our clients grow. That’s why we invested a considerable sum to give our clients
access to one of the world’s leading sales and marketing systems (the
BGSvault).
But
when I read that statistic from Forbes, it reminded me of a famous quote from
department store mogul John Wanamaker, who said: "Half my advertising is
wasted, I just don't know which half".
It’s
fair to say I have this discussion regularly with a number of our clients. They
don’t measure the results of their marketing, so they have no way of knowing
what’s working and what isn’t makes my team and me very ‘number conscious’. We
do measure everything. That includes our marketing. I want to know if I spent X
on a strategy, what return did I get?
Why
is that important? Well, it means I know which strategies to invest more of our
hard-earned money into and which strategies to ditch or try and improve. It’s
not rocket science, but as small-business owners we have to watch the pennies
and leverage as many things as we can.
I
also smiled when I read that statistic from Forbes. I wonder how many CEOs
actually know what their marketing results are and which strategies work. It is
highly likely they are just like John Wanamaker—they haven’t got a clue.
This
one simple act of measuring the results (or lack) of ALL your marketing is so
simple, yet it will have a significant effect on the growth of your firm. It’s your job to make sure
you put in
place a mechanism that gives
you this data. In
my experience, I can
tell you, it is TRANSFORMATIONAL!
