Every business needs a marketing strategy, but they don’t come cheap. The chances are you will have to invest money in marketing & advertising – but that’s normal. There’s no real way to avoid this, so you have to look at things from a cost-effectiveness perspective.

If something is cost-effective, then it pretty much means it is more than worth its value for money. Another way to describe it is that it provides a good return on investment. You want to spend money on marketing, but see some positive returns afterwards.

So, if you’re spending too much cash on a marketing campaign – but seeing no results – then things have to change. Here are some killer ways you can turn the tables on this situation.

Set Clear Goals at the Start

Before you do anything, you need to assess your main marketing goals. These can differ from company to company, but they usually look like this:

• I want to grow website traffic by x amount
• I want to improve my search ranking for these keywords
• I want to increase sales for this product
• I want to generate x amount of new leads every month
• I want to improve my conversion rate

You get the picture; set achievable and measurable goals for your marketing strategy. How does this improve the cost-effectiveness? It gives you an idea of what you need to focus on. This means you can develop a strategy that targets all of these goals. As such, you can spend less money on ideas that don’t influence your ability to achieve your targets. For example, should you bother spending money on billboard ads if your main goal is to improve SEO and gain web traffic? No, it’s not effective at improving that particular goal!

Run Tests

Testing is a fundamental part of modern-day marketing. It often goes on behind the scenes, which is why you don’t hear about it that much. The main concept is A/B testing, which helps you decide what new things to implement in your marketing strategy.

Effectively, you get your website and look at the main stats and metrics. Then, you make a change and release it to the world. Now, you check the stats and metrics again and compare them. If they’ve improved, then you know this new technique is worth pushing forward and investing more money in. If they haven’t improved, then there’s no point doing it.

Of course, things are more complex than this, but that’s a general overview of how things work. It’s kind of like testing your product before you sell it – you have to ensure that something will actually work before you go ahead and commit to it.

Work With a Marketing Agency

A lot of marketing campaigns are way too costly and can’t become cost-effective as you’re spending far too much money. This often happens when you try and handle everything in-house. Ironically, the idea behind doing this is that you want to save money. If you do things yourself, then surely it’s more cost-effective?

Unfortunately, it rarely is. If you don’t have a firm grasp of marketing, then you make countless mistakes. Mistakes cost money, which is why the costs keep ramping up. The other in-house option is to hire a team of marketers, but this can be incredibly expensive when you take into account their salaries.

Instead, it might be worth working with a marketing agency. When you outsource this service, you get access to a full team of marketing experts. As it shows on WeAreTG.com, a marketing agency can provide a range of different services. This is also beneficial as you can pick and choose what you need help with. Overall, you develop a more cost-effective strategy by spending less and enlisting the help of experts who know what they’re doing and can help you achieve your goals.

Keep Checking the Numbers

Lastly, you need to stay updated with all the numbers and figures that tell you about your marketing performance. Much of this comes in the form of web analytics. This presents you with lots of data about your website performance. As a result, you can see things like traffic stats, conversions, and so on. Similarly, checking your sales performance gives you an idea of how effective your marketing strategy is.

Check the numbers, so you know if you’re moving in the right direction. Be sure to look for stats that relate to your targets & goals. This is ultimately how you measure success!

If you’re struggling to make money – and feel like you’re wasting money on a dead marketing strategy – then try these four tips. They’ll help you create a more cost-effective strategy that brings in excellent returns.