When bootstrapping hurts your business

How can you ensure your marketing reflects the value of what it is you’re selling?

Marketing costs. There’s no denying it.

Hard cash, your time, resources – whatever way you look at it, it costs to market your business.

So I get that the popular questions I get asked about marketing are versions of “what the cheapest, quickest or easiest way to get my next clients?”

Bootstrapping mindset.

Sometimes critical. But often a dangerous place to stay for any length of time.

In today’s vlog, I’ll give you an example and share the three key questions you are responsible for answering, as the marketer of your business.

If you’re bootstrapping, email may be your first choice of communication over and above direct mail. A letter in the post is always going to be far more expensive to produce, print and deliver than a single email.

Email is going to be the cheapest, quickest and probably the easiest way to market your new service, programme or workshop.

But is the most effective? And does it reflect the value of what it is you are selling?

Let’s say you’re wanting to invite HR Directors and Managers along to a seminar you’re running. Will they get to see that email you send them? Probably not. And if they do, what’s their response going to be? Click, delete?

If on the other hand, they received a letter in the post. A well put together invitation with a booking form. Would they see this? Probably, yes. But if they’re busy or it comes in the post along with a dozen other brochures and sales letters, your message may get lost.

And if they do see it and read it, what reaction do you think they’ll have? Maybe interested, but would it be compelling enough for them to respond?

Let’s take your marketing up a notch. What if you sent a big package in the post? And you sent it overnight by courier and it needed a signature on delivery? A box containing a beautifully crafted brochure, the same invitation to attend that seminar and possibly a treat such chocolate. Obviously far more expensive and thought needed to send, but will they see your message? I’d say almost definitely. And if they did, what’s their response going to be?

Obviously, you can’t guarantee that the person receiving that package in the post is going to be your next client but you can guarantee that you’ll get seen and that they will have an opinion about the level of service you offer.

As a marketer of your business, you are responsible for answering these 3 questions:

1. What’s the message your prospects want to hear from you?
2. How do you get your message noticed by the right people?
3. How do you get the right people to respond and take action on your message?

Bootstrapping puts blinkers on you when you try to answer these questions. So even if you aren’t trying to be cheap, but you’re trying to be quick and easy … you’ll not be going to do the right thinking around answering these questions.

As noise levels are at an all-time high now for most of your prospects, you simply can’t afford to do cheap, quick and easy anymore. You’ll lose out.

It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend bucket loads of cash to make your marketing work, but you do need to spend time and resources on the thinking around your marketing.

Let me know what kind of marketing campaigns you’re putting together? Are you going beyond the cheap, quick and simple email? I’d love to know,

Thank you for reading. Until next time, do less, be more, play bigger.