Businesses have different budgets when starting. Typically a new business starts as an employee who believes they can do the same business better and they don’t need to work for anyone else. They start a small business, looking to past contacts to start their dream of business ownership. The start doesn’t consider all the aspects of a business and therefore many businesses falter within the first three years.

Those are true and hard facts.

But let’s examine why a business fails within the first 3-years.

1. They don’t plan on the contingencies of their initial clients not providing ample work to keep going
2. They don’t consider the cost that is consumed by a sale
3. They don’t do any marketing other than word of mouth
4. They don’t have money for reserves
5. They don’t understand the nuances of owning a business
6. They didn’t consider the 60-80 hours a week they would need to own and operate the business
7. They didn’t consider the market for their product or service would go away
8. They didn’t consider the stock market would crash
9. They didn’t pay off all their bills before starting out
10. They didn’t consider bringing on a partner

Okay, but this post isn’t about all 10 items mentioned it is only about the marketing portion of the business’s success or failure.

Our suggestion would be a 30%, 30%, 30%, and 10% breakdown for all your sales.

30% of sales back to the business – supplies or products needed to do your task

30% of sales back to the business – employee payroll and taxes

30% of sales for marketing – you need customers/clients to make the business go and grow

10% of sales for you – this is profit in the early days of a business (if you are able – if you’re not, then this goes back into the business)

How do you stick to this breakdown?

Dedication to the success of your business. You have to put the business first. Invest back into your business. I understand that a new car, truck, house, or boat looks great and the neighbors will envy you and you owning your own business, but the truth is those items will be the first to go when the business doesn’t produce.

You cannot set up your business and expect it to be there in 10, 20, or 50 years without a dedication to putting money back into the business.

If you haven’t started your budget consider starting today.

Leads are the lifeblood of your business.

We want to see you succeed. Don’t get drawn into the bright lights of social media and elaborate marketing tools and tricks. These types of options generally get you lots of calls without many actual buyers.

Start by having a professional SEO expert work on your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business or Google +) and then start making that website an attractor to buyers. When you start your marketing with these assets you are making the future of your business strong.

Your marketing should be 30% of your sales.

20% to SEO – GBP, Website, Social Media, Schema, Linking, citations, content for your website, city pages, etc…

10% to other – Paper Ads, Facebook Ads, Direct Marketing, PPC, Mailers

You need to consider how Leads will be coming to your business and how much money is in your budget to get those leads.

What is a good return rate for my SEO marketing spend? Consider this, if you get $1 for every $1 you spend on SEO then your business is breaking even. If you get $2 for every $1 you spend on SEO you are making money. If you get 5-10 times the $1 spent on SEO, then can you imagine what else you could do to increase your Business Leads.

Get started today! Impactbizmarketing.com is an SEO professional business that limits the number of clients so it can focus on your business.