Playing the construction marketing odds: How to win

Sometimes we are lucky.  We just happen to be in the right place at the right time, and everything works out perfectly.

Of course, you wouldn't want to plan your business -- and construction marketing -- purely on luck. So you need to weigh your probabilities, risk, and reward and decide if the odds are in your favor.

Example:  Is it wiser to throw all your marketing budget into one big push, or to strategically define a variety of smaller options?  Well, the answer could be "either way" depending on your circumstances, knowledge and experience, though in most cases incremental gains are wiser than the big blow-out.

Here is another example.  Say, you have a budget of $100,000 for marketing.  Should you spend it on advertising, media publicity, or both, or none, and how much should you spend?  Your answer will in part depend on your previous experience.  If you've advertised successfully and can calculate your cost-per-lead and the numbers add up, it makes sense to continue advertising where the advertising works, predictably.  If you haven't, you should assess whether you can schedule enough frequency/volume and test your results, and then decide if you wish to continue or do something else.

Basic rules:

• Play the odds.  If they are reasonable, take the risk;
• It doesn't hurt to try some experiments, but keep these to about 10 to 15 per cent of your overall budget;
• Listen to your own intuition and remember your experience.  How much marketing success have you achieved by responding to inbound telemarketers or spam messages?