It's addicting to see your company get bigger. That addiction has created empires, built pyramids, and helped main street flourish.
But here's the problem: very few entrepreneurs are willing to do what it takes. In this week's video, we're talking about real tactical ways to double your revenue in 12 months.
If we're going to grow your business 2X in 12 months, it'll take some work on your part as well as a better marketing budget. There are a lot of things that go into growth, but if you take the following steps, you'll set your company up to scale.
Most companies spend very little on their marketing. In fact, when I look at their books, I rarely see consistent marketing spend at all. They'll occasionally spend on a marketing experiments, but that's it.
To get started, you'll need to commit to spend on marketing, and yes, the amount matters. When I finally convince entrepreneurs to do this, they'll thow out random numbers like $150 a month or $300 a month. The best part is that they're bringing in $1M to $10M a year in sales.
Come on guys, if you're going to double in size, you'll need to pony up some cash. A fixed marketing budget is a good first step, but it should grow as your business grows. This is how we're going to get your company to scale. That means that instead of having a fixed dollar budget, you need to base your spend on a % of your revenue.
If you really want to double the size of your company this year, you'll need to make the % high enough. I suggest 8% of revenue. That would mean that if your company generates $100,000 in sales each month, you'll have a marketing budget of $8,000.
As your company grows, the marketing budget will grow and the scaling will begin.
This is all well and good, but where do you get the money to fund this marketing budget? The dirty little secret is that you already have it. When I dig into a company's financials, I can almost always find 8% for marketing. The first thing I do is look at the labor. Every company has a dead weight employee. This is the member of your staff that's been around for a long time and does very little. Busy owners keep these people on staff because they're too scared to let them go, the confrontation makes them sick to their stomach.
Think about it. All the money from the employee's wage, plus the employer taxes you'll save, can be funneled into your marketing campaign. I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me. I'm not a corporate axe looking for people to cut. In fact, one of my biggest satisfactions with growing Ignite Spot is that I get to create jobs.
I'm not, however, a proponent of lazy team members. I want businesses to succeed, and in order to do that, everyone taking a paycheck needs to earn a paycheck. The goal is to create opportunity for everyone that supports the company's mission.
Once you've done this, the next step for building up your budget is to print off a 30-day transaction list by vendor. Have your accountant print this out of your accounting software. Once you get it, grab a pen and circle the names of all the vendors that you no longer need, as well as the ones you've never head of. Doing this, you'll uncover spending in your company that is completely unnecessary.
Once you've acquired the cash out of your current spending, the next step is to put your ego aside. Every entrepreneur loves to "do it themselves". In this case, they'll try and run their own SEO campaign, or run a Google AdWords account. They figure that if they can read a book on it, they'll be experts at it. While I advocate getting educated, I don't advocate doing this yourself. Take your money and hire professionals. Get a real company to build your marketing and get you infront of the right audience. If they're good at what they do, they'll grow your business much faster than you can.
Understand this: the first 3 to 6 months of marketing may be a total bust. You may not get much for the money you put it, but if you choose a marketing platform that's relevant to today, your team of professionals will optimize it and overtime you'll make a killing.
Why does it take a few months? Advertising your business is both and art and a science. Getting your market to notice you, as well as building the right offer, takes time. The good news is that you won't miss the money. Since you were blowing it on a dead weight employee, employer taxes, and a bunch of vendors you've never heard of, you wont know any different as the money gets funneled into the marketing campaign!
If you can commit to this strategy and let it ride for 6 months, you'll be well on your way to doubling your revenue in 12 months.
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