Spending money to make money

[ShaneKislack]

Here's an interesting tidbit I recently read. The idea was that you would expect a ten fold return on a particular marketing campaign. That means that if you spend a $100 on fliers, etc...$1000 in billings should be considered good.

Doing some quick estimating I've found that that's about what I'm doing. The lesson here is that you can't expect to bill $250k/yr if you're only spending about a grand on marketing. The personal lesson is that I haven't been spending enough on marketing. It's also assuring to know that marketing money is well spent. If I want to bill 100k this year I need to put about 10K into marketing.

I wish someone would have pointed this out to me earlier.

[CaptainTom]

Sorry, you must have missed the marketing 101 course.

There are many business groups you can join that will help you expand your business accumen. Rotary International, BBB, etc.
Making sure your marketing dollars are not going to waste is the hard part, but if you are getting a good return, you are probably doing the right things.

[kenw]

I think I detect some toungue-in-cheek here.......

Usually these "ideas" come from (surprise!) marketing companies.....

[ShaneKislack]

I understand marketing...just hadden't seen that number to quantify what I've been doing. But you're right, marketing is not my strong suit.

[ShaneKislack]

Possibly, Ken. But this tidbit came from a photog consultant.

[LadyShutterBug]

i think that while it could be true for some, it depends on your line of work and the area you work in... not to mention your clientele.

[ShaneKislack]

Haha, pretty deep Kasey.

[MarkM]

Shane,
Any marketing is good marketing.
But COS (cost of sale) will vary with each marketing idea.
Cost of the product your trying to sell, packaging, marketing, hourly wage, electricity, all count toward the COS.

The trick is to find the ideas that have the best profit to cost ratio.

Without knowing what type of photography your trying to market, I can't comment on your post.
But here's a clip from Predatory Marketing...

To grow your business, 7-9% of gross sales should be reinvested into your marketing campaigns.
To maintain your business, 4-6% should be reinvested.

[markfh]

Bingo... MarkM has it right. Too many people mistakenly think they have to have "sales" numbers to justify an expense but it's the profit you have to justify to.