If I told you that there is a way that you could reduce the amount you’re spending on marketing and increase the number of customers you’re getting, what would you say?
You’d probably be sceptical, and to be fair, you probably should be. After all, as business owners, we’re constantly being approached by ‘marketing experts’, or ‘business coaches’ that are trying to ram their services down our throats.
Our inbox is constantly filled with emails from ‘specialists’ in other countries offering us SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), web design, Google Ads (pay-per-click, or SEM-search engine marketing), Social Media, and more.
99% of these emails come from an @hotmail or @gmail email address, which, if you’re like me, you don’t even read because they don’t have a professional business email (that’s a subtle hint, by the way).
As someone who works with trade-based businesses from all over the world every day, I regularly see some common trends in the ‘digital space’.
They’re not necessarily ‘bad’. However, there are things that can be done to earn better results and get you a better ‘bang-for-your-buck’.
The reality of running a trade business
The reality is we don’t know what we don’t know.
As tradespeople, we know we’re good at our trade, however, when it comes to many areas of running a business, we’ve never been taught. The problem with studying a trade is that on completion, we’re given our license and wish all the best to those with little to no business skills. Sure, we can swing a hammer with the best of them, but when it comes to lodging a tax return, or marketing our business correctly, we’re none the wiser.
In this post, I’m going to share with you a scenario that I see regularly among companies I work with and speak with worldwide.
I run a company called Tradie Web Guys which offers websites and marketing for trade businesses and almost every day; companies call in telling us the same thing: “We need more leads!” (A lead is a visitor that contacts you through a phone call, or by filling in a webform).
It’s true that businesses need a fresh supply of new leads. However, you may not need as many as you think.
Generating more leads
Leads are not the bottleneck!
I want to share a paradigm with you that (I hope) will hit you right between the eyes.
Assuming you have a website (and if you don’t, get one), let’s say you’re currently getting 100 visitors to your website each week. These visitors may be coming from various sources such as SEO, word of mouth, paid traffic, letterbox drops, newspapers, social media, radio, TV, or other sources.
In the next section, I’m going to run through some figures to give you an idea of how the numbers might look.
Let’s break it down
If you have a website that is ‘converting’ at 4%, that means that out of the 100 visitors you’re getting to your site, you’re only turning four of them into a lead.
Now, let’s say that you are currently converting half (50%) of your leads into customers (which is high). That means from 100 visitors, you’re getting four leads, which turn into two customers.
Let’s say that getting 100 visitors to your website each month costs you $100. If you’re only getting two customers from that investment, each one costs you $50.
“That’s great, Matt, but I need more than two customers a week,” I hear you say. Okay, well if you want more customers, you’ll need more leads and if you need more leads, you need more visitors, right?
Not necessarily…
Rethinking your growth strategy
Let’s dive into two distinct approaches to increasing your customer base and business revenue. While most businesses tend to focus on generating more leads, what if you could achieve the same growth by refining the way you convert the leads you already have? Let’s explore two strategies for achieving your business goals, without necessarily increasing your marketing spend.
Option 1: Expanding your lead funnel for increased reach
Say you want to double the number of customers you get each week. This means we’re upping it from two to four. Based on the above formula, this is what it would look like. You’ll need:
- 200 visitors
- Cost = $200/week
- Eight leads (of which half will become a customer)
- Eight times by 50% = Four customers
- Cost per customer is still $50
Option 2: Maximising conversion rates for efficiency
Now, let’s consider an alternative approach. What if, instead of increasing the number of leads, you focused on improving your conversion rate? By optimising your website or sales process, you could double your conversion rate without increasing your traffic:
- You improve your website conversions from 4%, to 8%.
- You still get 100 visitors which is still costing you $100/week.
- You now have eight leads.
- You’re converting half of them into customers which equals four customers.
- Cost per customer is now $25
This shows us that a simple shift from focussing on ‘getting more leads’ to ‘converting the leads I have’ can increase the amount of work you’re getting by 100%.
What would that mean for you and your business if you could effectively double, triple, or further increase the amount of work you’re getting by not increasing your marketing cost at all?
What if you applied the same strategy and increased your budget? Imagine the potential results.
It’s not always just about spending more money
Spending more money is not always the answer. Of course, if you go to a company that specialises in selling Google Ads/., they’re going to sell you Google AdWords. Your best interests are sadly not their priority. Their priority is how much money you’re going to spend.
That’s why it’s so important to understand what I like to call the ‘Digital Ecosystem’.
- How does my website affect my Google Ads conversions?
- How does the content on my website affect the time my visitors stay on my site?
- How good am I at keeping my customers engaged and nurtured?
- What does a prospect do, when they see me drive past in my work truck?
We’ve barely scratched the surface of a far bigger topic. I hope that this post got you thinking a little more about what you’re currently doing.
If you’d like to see how this might apply to your business directly, visit TradieWebGuys.com.au
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