Kick start your small business marketing plan with the 80/20 rule.,
Marketing begins – not with ideas – but with data!
Did you know that in general terms, 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your loyal customers and their networks?
The old 80/20 rule or Pareto Principle was created in 1906 by economist Vilfredo Pareto and it still applies to business today.
Knowing who that 20 % are is incredibly powerful information for you to drive your business.
Look through your customer data (research) to see if you can identify the top 20% of your customers (those who represent 80% of your sales).
What do you know about them?
- What are their shared characteristics/demographics/psychographics?
- Do they have similar buying behaviour (time of day, volume)?
- Do they have the same social media tastes (what they follow / like/ what platforms they engage with)?
Based on these patterns where could you find more of these buyers and how could you reward your existing loyal customers?
The 80/20 rule also applies to your marketing spend/time.
Do you sometimes feel you are going around in circles but get nothing done? Are you spending a lot of time or money (or both) on your marketing efforts but getting few results? Document your marketing spend and your time spent marketing your business (networking, meetings, social media, copywriting, negotiating, proofreading etc.). Then try and figure out which 20% of your time in marketing produces 80% of your sales results – or is achieving 80% of your long-term marketing goals. By knowing what works you can spend more time on those activities and less time on others.
On your to-do list this week:
- Find out who your loyal customer is
- Vow to never lose them
- Find more of them
- Repeat!
