Deadly Duo: COVID and the Arctic Blast

4 MIN READ

This will certainly be the winter we’ll never forget. Just when things were slightly improving with COVID-19, the arctic blast brought record low temperatures, major destruction, frightening automobile wrecks, water/power outages, residential fires, more closings and deaths. We all are asking ourselves, “how bad can it get?”

Our economy has been hit hard – affecting every Texan. Can marketing help in these troubling times? Yes. But the best way to get your name out there is by providing goodwill to others. Many of our citizens are experiencing very difficult times. Ask your employees how you can help those in need. Then allow them time off to volunteer in your local communities. There are so many needs – food, water, housing, blankets, heaters, home clean-up, diapers and more. Another option – does your business have products or services that can be donated to improve their lives right now?

Doing some form of goodwill can bring joy to both your employees and those in need. We all need to express more love among others. To even show more support, consider producing custom t-shirts (long-sleeve of course) printed for your employees. This will bring more comradery among them.

Back to marketing. How can you improve your company’s revenue? First, clearly identify your target audience and then break it down by gender, ethnicity, income, geography, etc. Once you better understand each sub-group of your target audience, brainstorm on ways your marketing can cost-effectively cross their paths. But you may first ask yourself, “what should my marketing budget be?”

There are a few ways to help determine a realistic marketing budget. One way is identifying a percentage of your company’s gross revenue. A good benchmark would be 5%. B2B companies may spend closer to 4%, while B2C companies may spend up to 10% or 12%. Another way to determine your marketing budget is based on an acceptable cost per lead and cost per sale (or customer). Your cost per sale will always be higher than the cost per lead given your close ratio is never 100%. As an example, if a new lead cost you $50 and your close rate is 10%, then your average cost per sale is $500. Then identify how many sales per week or month you require to be profitable. If you need 10 sales per month, using the example above, your marketing budget would need to be $5,000 per month.

Once your budget is identified, you will then need to plan out marketing activities you can afford and which ones would be the most productive. Using the example budget above, you won’t be able to afford radio, outdoor or TV in the DFW market. You would need to look at digital, email, or other forms of marketing that will fit within your budget and will also generate enough leads.

It may be best to find the right DFW ad agency with the right expertise to help plan this out with you.

Stay safe.

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