This article is a preview of the presentation I will be giving at the Closets Conference & Expo in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday morning, April 13th, at 9:00 a.m.

When I started my closet company in 1988, I had no experience or knowledge in how to run a business. I had no idea how many people would call me on the phone, stop by my office/showroom, or otherwise contact me about how to spend money to advertise my closet business. In short, there were a lot of people trying to sell me something in order for me to market my business. 

While the types of ways to spend money on marketing/advertising have increased and changed dramatically over the years, the basic decisions we all must make comes down to the following:

Where?

What?

How much?

Initially, when I first started out, I listened and believed what they all said. I thought, “well, they know more than me,” so I bought it. Then, either no leads came in, or just a few leads came in. When the salesperson would follow up to either honestly find out the results, or to ask for the next order for the next issue, I would share the results. Usually, they were not good. Their response was always the same “you can’t make a decision based on just doing this one time; you have to do it over a period of time.”

Each time this happened, each time I would try something, I learned, and what I learned was that all of these forms of advertising could work for some businesses, but not all businesses. I had to find a way to help me make wise decisions, and over the years, I developed the concept of My Marketing Pyramid.

How to build your pyramid

The first step was to decide how much money I wanted to budget for marketing/advertising. For arguments sake, I would suggest 3% of your annual revenue to just maintain your current sales volume. For a $1 million business, this equals $30,000. 

Step two involves making a list of the ideas or ways to spend money for marketing/advertising. Be sure when making this list to include the cost for each item.

Once I had my list with all of the options and costs available to me, I realized my budget at the time didn’t allow me to purchase them all. I had to prioritize each of them. Addressing those priorities brought me to the concept of a pyramid.

I pictured a pyramid because it helped me to appreciate the idea of a solid base. What did I consider to be my solid base? I made my list. I knew that I needed a website and business cards, and I wanted graphics on my trucks, signs in my showroom, signage on my building, etc. This was when I realized that I had to further break down my expenditures into “needs” and “wants.” I understood that I did not have the funds at that time to spend on everything. I had to look at what “needs” I had already committed to before I could allocate further funds for my “wants.” This was when I started to transform my lists into “Tiers” of my pyramid. 

The base of the pyramid was what I knew I needed to spend money on. When I created my list for Tier 1, and added all the costs up, that became my budget for Tier 1. In this example, let’s assume that Tier 1 marketing/advertising expenses total $16,000.

The next step was to determine what items from my list would comprise Tier 2 and Tier 3. An example of a Tier 2 item might be Google Ad Words, or professional photos. Once I had that list completed, I knew what money, if any, was left for Tier 3.

Types of Tier methods

Examples of Tier 3 methods of marketing/advertising may include television and Internet streaming services, radio, podcasts, and digital or traditional billboard advertising. The real benefit of looking at My Marketing Pyramid was that I could determine easily and quickly where to spend that $30,000. It allowed me to avoid being sidetracked by suggestions that unexpectedly arose at event meetings, or offers on special, last-minute deals or opportunities. Every time a new idea for marketing/advertising came up, I would go back to my list, and add it to one of the Tiers.

The importance of the Tiers is that they allow for new ideas to be added. Once you add those new ideas, then you adjust the allocations to each Tier. For example, in the late 1990s, when I realized that I had to have a website, I added the website cost and monthly maintenance to Tier 1. Initially, adding that expense really restricted what I could purchase in Tier 2, and I understood that the items allocated to Tier 3 would have to wait! 

However, the calm and peace of mind I felt by using this method of decision-making, assured me that I was making the best decisions I could with the money I had available.

Learn more at the show

If you have not decided to attend the Closets Conference & Expo, I would encourage you to reconsider. Not only will I be giving this presentation in full, but many other people will be giving presentations on how to manifest a better business, lead a better workforce, become a better designer, and elevate your knowledge about the economy and the industry. Additionally, a huge benefit of the Conference is the opportunity it offers to meet other people just like yourself. Some might be newer in business, and some might have been in the business for many years, but I have learned that each person has their perspective and value. We can all learn something from everyone, even if it is something not to do! Whether you meet someone sitting next to you at an educational session, at lunch, at a networking event, or even if you strike up a conversation in the lobby, meeting people in your industry and sharing knowledge is well worth your time and money! 

“Remember, none of us is as smart as all of us!” I hope you will attend the Conference and I look forward to seeing you there. Be sure to introduce yourself to me, and we can learn together!

Learn more at closetscon.com.