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Are You Overpaying for Your Marketing? [Endless Customers Podcast S.1 Ep.30]
About this Episode
The old adage in business is that you should spend 10% of your budget on marketing. But, says Katie Coelho, IMPACT’s VP of Services, that number can vary widely. For smaller companies that are putting everything they have into product development or services, that number is more likely 2-5%.
No matter the investment, marketing can be hard to track, and a reliable ROI is not easy to achieve. For small businesses with limited resources, poorly spent funds can be debilitating.
Katie urges business leaders to be judicious. While it’s tempting to sign on with an agency and hope that they’ll deliver the growth you’re looking for, agency services come with a steep markup — often for things you can do yourself. And if you’re spending on PPC ads or banner ads that have limited upside, you may feel like you’re throwing your money away.
The more profitable path is to take as much of your marketing in-house as possible.
“If you’re investing internally in people, we’ve found, especially for small businesses, you’re going to see more long-term success,” Katie says.
While it can feel risky to take on new employees, Katie says it’s the better way. She advises business leaders to hire a team member to focus on marketing as soon as possible. “If you invest those marketing dollars in a marketing hire,” she says, “you will have more control over what your ROI will actually look like.”
We hear the same thing from business leaders all the time: My agency doesn’t seem to get my industry. The content they produce doesn’t really sound like me.
With an in-house hire, that concern evaporates. A new marketing hire, says Katie, “is going to get more ingrained in your business and the needs of your business and your buyers more than any agency ever really could.”
Connect with Katie
Katie Coelho is IMPACT’s VP of Services. With more than a decade of client and management experience, Katie ensures the IMPACT team is set up for success by following the right processes and best practices.
Learn more about Katie
Connect with Katie on LinkedIn
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