How Much Time Should You Spend On Creative Marketing

How much time should you dedicate on creative marketing? Do you engage in Creative Marketing, and what percent of your marketing outreach does it consist of? Is is 10%, 30% or 50 % of your marketing efforts? Most business owners struggle to execute marketing campaigns much less implementing creative marketing. Marketing by Mikael defines creative marketing as marketing activities that set you apart from your competition. It’s an out of the box approach to marketing that will help you make your brand memorable. This is a legitimate challenge for small business owners who are not experienced in marketing to develop creative marketing campaigns. We’ve had the privilege to consult with countless business owners over the past few months and have learned about their concern regarding this aspect of marketing. On the surface, it may seem to be a factor based on a lack of time; however, when we inquired further we realized that the main issue was a lack of understanding for creative marketing. It takes years of experience to truly understand marketing and to be able to formulate the right strategy knowledge to be effective. As such we have divided business owners in two groups: those that engage in sporadic creative marketing or neglect creative marketing altogether.

Let’s begin with the first class of business owners who engages in sporadic creative marketing. In the last article we defined marketing and outlined the broad array of activities that encompasses this field. As such, the likelihood of being overwhelmed with the variety of companies, services, platforms and strategies is quite common. Not to mention the right strategy and the creative marketing campaign necessary to set the business apart from the regular mundane marketing. So, where would a business owner begin and how should he/she carry out one or more of the creative marketing activities. Moreover, how much is required for creative marketing and what is the healthy margin of expense? Prior to the emergence of the internet, marketing or creative marketing was primarily done through print media. Businesses got creative and executed interesting marketing campaigns which caught the attention of the public. Now that print media is basically obsolete, business owners must learn contemporary marketing technologies in order to utilize the digital tools necessary to execute creative marketing. In short, businesses must stay relevant or yield to their competitors. According to research, 85% of consumers seek information about businesses online and 81% of consumers conduct research online before making a purchase. Clearly, with consumer behavior changing as it is, it’s crucial to establish a strong internet presence and differentiate your business from your competitors – hence creative marketing. The outcome of most business owners is a halfass marketing campaign done sporadically with a minuscule return on investment. The level of creativity necessary is lacking and generally speaking, business owners begin intensely and often fizzle away.

The second group of business owners simply avoid marketing and they tend to rely more on word of mouth and/or direct outreach. We don’t necessarily think that this approach is wrong, however, it must be combined with branding and digital marketing (creative marketing) efforts for a greater result. According to the U.S Dept. of Commerce Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, online sales are steadily increasing. For the 4th quarter of 2017, there was a total of $119 Billion in sales online. With those numbers, it should behoove business owners to take a more serious approach.

So, the question is how much time and to what extent should you engage in creative marketing. It’s our opinion that from a cost perspective, marketing in generally should not exceed 25% of your gross revenue, and it should consume about 30% of your daily activity. With social media marketing, every post made should have a follow up activity to respond to comments and customer questions. Thus, it’s our professional opinion that outsourcing marketing to a reputable company may be a better option. It will help alleviate the outreach burden and redirect time to serving clients. Find a reputable marketing company that can help with creative marketing and develop campaigns to increase your business revenue.

If you are looking for a marketing company that can offer a comprehensive approach to marketing, please contact Marketing by Mikael. Marketing by Mikael is operated by individuals with 20 plus combined years of marketing experience and the proven marketing strategies will yield the results you seek. Contact us today at Tel. 818-540-1208 or email Info@MarketingbyMikael.com. We look forward to building your business by blending branding with business development.