Developing Multiple Marketing Sources

By Dan York

Many entrepreneurs wonder how many marketing sources is enough for their company. The answer depends on the level of success that you want. If you’re just looking for a sub-million-dollar company, you don’t need many marketing sources. But for most of you reading this article, I imagine that you’re looking to create multi-million-dollar companies and for a few of you, companies that are doing tens of millions in sales.

There is no such thing as a “magic bullet” to explode your company. I know that a lot of companies in the digital age, including all the marketing gurus we see all over Facebook, want you to believe otherwise, but it’s just not reality. Growing your company takes time, work, and many different approaches to marketing.

Marketing sources and the magic number

So how many different marketing sources do you need to create a company as successful as you want it to be?

As many as it takes.

The formula for marketing strategies is simple: Do you make more money on the marketing program than you spent?

Would you spend $1,000 to make $2,000? I would. Would you spend $5,000 to make $20,000? I would. I continue using any marketing source that returns multiple times what I spent. Then I look for opportunities to add more and more. The longer you keep these strategies in play, the more they seem to snowball over time, returning more and more on your investment.

Mistakes you’re making

The biggest mistake I see a lot of business owners make is that they’re constantly changing marketing programs. Business owners can sometimes be nervous or impatient, jumping from one marketing source to the next because they assume it’s not working if they don’t see a large immediate benefit. There are two problems with this approach.

First, it takes time to see a return on your investment in a marketing strategy. Each strategy requires your focused attention as you try it out, gather feedback, and make adjustments. Second, successful companies balance multiple marketing programs, all operating simultaneously. If you simply turn off one marketing source to try another, you kill all the progress and growth of the first, setting your company back each time you try something new.

You must persist in a marketing strategy in order to achieve stable progression and see a return on your investment. When you are ready to try a new marketing source, add it to your existing program rather than jumping ship so that you are developing a multi-faceted marketing approach. Companies of significant size typically balance six or more marketing sources operating simultaneously that are stabilized and consistent.

So therein lies the trick. Can you persist at one marketing source and make it work through all the barriers that you will inevitably encounter?  And then can you maintain that source as you add others, working to make them all stable and successful?

If you can be consistent, you will discover most marketing programs gain more and more traction the longer they are in play, eventually achieving a snowball effect that will leave you with no doubt that your investment of time and money has paid off.

Dan York is the founder and CEO of Stellar-eMarketing, Inc. and is a seasoned entrepreneur, Internet marketing expert, and administrative and marketing consultant, as well as a veteran public speaker. More information is found on York’s websites: www.Stellar-eMarketing.com and www.water-damage-marketing.com.