A common problem many small business owners have is inconsistent cash flow.
Historically there was a problem with small business marketing. Although you could run ads in a phonebook or rent a billboard, you never really owned the real estate. You always “rented” ads, businesses never owned the space.
Additionally, it was more difficult to predict the volume of new business that came in through the ads. You could get an idea, but not really know how many people were paying attention to your billboard or local newspaper ad over time. How did anyone measure the journey of new customers who bought today but saw your billboard last year and were influenced by it?
But every business had these problems so they weren’t problems. Small businesses succeeded in this world. Marketing was hyper-local yet no one had a way to measure marketing at the detailed scale you can on the internet today.
Nowadays, the game has changed. People ignore billboards hardcore. They’re no longer looking up, but down…at their phones. Since billboards and phone books have been replaced with the internet, how does a business get people’s attention and secure predictable cash flow?
One way is to approach digital marketing with a transactional approach. This type of approach is similar to renting billboards. You just pay for a spot and hope it works.
This was a common strategy of the past, but some apply it today. The only difference is renting digital ad space instead of physical ad space.
A real digital marketing example of this is to just run Google ads or Facebook ads. This works for some businesses, but just like renting a billboard, you don’t own the space. As soon as you stop paying, you lose the spot. Once again, this works for some people, and many have gotten rich developing marketing funnels that start through paid advertising. It’s a legitimate strategy, but…what if Facebook changes? What if more competitors join Google and pay for ads? In those cases, the small business still has the problem of not owning the space, which means there’s more risk if cost for advertising increases or platforms close down.
To secure cash flow long-term the business needs to own the space. That means having your own platform that drives traffic independently and feeds your sales funnel. This kind of change in the business is long-term, and can cash flow independently of other organizations. The opportunity for success long-term is much greater and safer.
An example of this is using a website to be the top of a content-marketing funnel to bring in quality leads and cash flow for the business. How nice would it be to predict or measure consistent sales coming in through a digital billboard that you own?
All of this can be done through a digital marketing strategy that is built top to bottom with the purpose of delivering value. This can be done through content on the business’ website.
Following this approach means turning the business’ website into an asset that is predictably flowing cash into the business.
