Way too much money and time are lost on marketing solutions that don’t work because no one stops to ask the right questions. Hiring an online marketing company won’t help you fix the problems that lie deeper in your company.
“Think before you speak” is a well-known adage that we can easily apply to business. Before “speaking” to your audience, you need to do all you can to ensure your business is in check internally. Before investing in more marketing to draw in new customers, you first need to make sure that internal issues (such as poor customer service) won’t cause you to immediately lose them.
The cost of too much marketing too soo
Acquiring new customers is up to five times more costly than retaining existing customers. In the US alone, companies lose $136.8 billion annually as a result of avoidable customer switching. Without a doubt, the most efficient and sustainable way to run a business is to first do all that you can to make any new customers’ experience one they’ll want to repeat.
Create too much buzz around your product and you’ll run the risk of not living up to the hype.
No matter how large your pool of potential customers, it is ultimately finite, and if your target customers’ first experience of your business is negative, then you won’t only lose their custom, but they might dissuade others from doing business with you. That’s a fatal combination for a business.
Go heavy on the marketing too soon, and that pool will drain in incremental amounts until you have a drought on your hands.
5 signs you should hold off on marketing for a while
Of course, we’re not saying that there’s never a right time to push your marketing efforts, it’s just that that time comes much further down the line than many companies anticipate. Online marketing companies will try to convince you that it’s always good to rake in new customers, but our extensive experience (and common sense) tells us differently.
Let’s look at just four of the many signs that you need to focus elsewhere on your business first.
- Your business is not scalable
- Poor customer service
- Undermotivated staff
- Lack of organization
We all know the dream scenario: your marketing campaign goes viral and your product is in such high demand that you can’t keep up with demand. The problem? If you can’t fulfill orders, or if you’re constantly out of stock your marketing efforts might end up benefiting your competitor more when your potential customers look elsewhere for a similar product. Nightmare!
What you ideally want is to steadily gain traction amongst your customers and refine your production line and/or supply chain as you go. Increase demand too fast and you’re asking for trouble.
Of course, no matter how smoothly your business runs, there will always be a need for great customer service. Make sure your team is prepared to efficiently handle customer service inquiries and fulfill any promises made to the customer. Your team will need to be equipped with the right tools to be able to reply promptly and direct the customer to the relevant department.
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Your employees are your most valuable resource. You hired them when they were bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and eager to make their mark on your company. Overworked, underappreciated employees are going to cost you. Not only are they less efficient, but when they leave, high employee turnover is extremely expensive.
Without a defined organizational structure, tasks are left unassigned, deadlines are missed and chaos ensues. The point of organizational structure isn’t to assign blame when things go wrong, it’s to see where improvements are necessary, where more training is needed, or where timeframes need to be adjusted.
With jd-pROCYCLE, we help businesses get to a place where their operations just run smoothly and where everyone feels comfortable with their tasks and their workload.
Not ready? That’s ok
If by reading this you’ve established that your business has more pressing issues that need addressing before you’re ready to push your marketing, then great – you’re well ahead of many others.
If you’re not sure where to go next, then that’s also fine. At jdp, we’ll run a full investigation and diagnosis of your business to find out where your next investment can make the biggest impact on your business. We’ll talk through your options and draw up a plan to get your business on the highway to its dream destination. Get in touch or book a free consultation to get that engine started.
