How Does Your Marketing Spend Compare With Other IT Providers?

By The Business Solutions Network

One area in which most solutions providers fall short with their business is with marketing. Some admit they are bad at marketing. Some convince themselves word of mouth is all they need. Others believe no marketing works after a few halfhearted attempts fell short of expectations. In preparing for an upcoming special report on marketing and solutions providers, I ran a survey to collect some data from solutions providers. The results were pretty eye-opening.

For example, solutions providers who took the survey, on average, allocate approximately 6 percent of their annual revenue to marketing efforts. Depending on which expert you speak to, the marketing conditions, and situation of the solution provider, 6 percent can be good or bad. For instance, companies in highly competitive industries should spend more — think 20 percent. Most solutions providers would say they are in a highly competitive industry. Additionally, those looking to gain market share should be spending closer to 10 percent of their annual revenue on marketing.

One survey question asked respondents to check all the different types of marketing activities they’ve tried in the past five years. Based on the responses, solutions providers have tried pretty much everything except TV advertisements and national radio ads. The most tried marketing tools were Google Ad Words (56.25 percent), Blogs (58.33 percent), and direct mail (56.25 percent). The most successful campaigns, according to respondents, were direct mail. Interestingly, when asked to share where their biggest marketing failures came, the results were pretty similar to what people said were the most successful. That is, while direct mail worked for many, it also was a flop for many. The same could be said for Google Ad Words, blogging, trade show exhibits, etc.

In asking how many times the respondents tried these unsuccessful methods before giving up, about 15 percent said once was enough, 40 percent said they tried a few times, and 28 percent said they tried many times. Clearly, it’s not the methods being used or how many times they’re being tried, but how the methods are being executed that dictate success or failure.

Luckily, in the special report that will appear in our February issue (seems like far away but the article will be posted online in a couple weeks), I also spoke with some marketing gurus to get their advice on to how execute a successful marketing plan. Additionally, I have a lot of great data to share from the survey, including insights concerning MDF funds and the most creative marketing methods our respondents have seen. Keep an eye open for this article!

It’s my hope that, as 2016 begins, we can reverse the trend of failed marketing programs and help dispel the idea that marketing doesn’t work.