Two different kitchen retailers asked me a very similar question in recent weeks, and it’s one worthy of some serious thought:
“What percentage of my marketing budget should go on people buying right now, and what percentage on people buying in the future?”
Great question.
After all, if you spend all your budget on appealing to people buying right now, that won’t necessarily ensure your success in the back half of this year and beyond.
And it’s no good putting all your eggs in tomorrow’s basket when you need to pay today’s bills.
So, what’s the answer?
As you might expect, it depends.
Broadly speaking, you’ll find that something like 3% of people are ‘in the market’ right now, actively looking and ready to spend money.
The rest aren’t buying right now, but they will buy at some point in the future.
So, a solid principle is to invest accordingly, with the bulk of your marketing investment prioritised on creating awareness, growing your brand and creating a bond with your future customers.
But, of course, you can’t simply forget about your pipeline or the volume of sales you need right now. That’s why I’d encourage you to view the answer to this question rather like a sliding scale.
If you’re booked out till July, there’s not much point throwing money at Google Ads looking for people who are buying right now – you just can’t service them, and you probably don’t need them.
Instead, you’re better off investing up to 90% of your budget on longer-term brand awareness and positioning. Get your website looking and feeling fantastic. Create those project case studies with quality photoshoots, undertake lifestyle magazine advertising, and develop your website SEO towards specific keywords.
But if you look at your schedule, and you’ve got gaps that need filling, or you really need to generate more business in the next few months, now’s the time to fire up Google, Facebook and Instagram Ads. Now’s the time to send some sales emails to your (past and current) prospect list; it’s a time to get leaflets out into people’s homes. And if really needed – an offer-led message to boot.
Like most complicated questions, there isn’t a straightforward, ‘one size fits all’ answer, but I hope this has given you at least a bit of a steer on where you should be focusing right now.