Free isn’t always Free
I’ve been pretty busy this last month teaching a Maymester class at the University of North Texas. The main assignment for the class was for the students to develop a marketing plan with digital marketing initiatives as the main focus. In teaching this class I realized something that most people don’t think about in the planning phase of their marketing, the execution.
About a month or so ago I did a speaking engagement to SMB’s where we talked holistically about digital marketing. We were discussing how nothing is really free and most of the time you need help to get things accomplished. After the engagement we received a number of comments from the attendees and someone brought up an interesting point. “Why are you saying things cost so much when all I see on the internet are free ways for us to get things done?” That’s a great question!!! This is something I had to address in my Maymester class because there is some truth to that question. Let me explain.
What’s a marketing plan? It’s just that, a plan. Plans are meant to change and most of the time often do. In my experience I can honestly say that most companies create their marketing plans without considering the tactical execution of the plan. They know they want SEO, Paid Search, Social Media and Strategic Banner Advertising. They know how much they want to invest in each area. What they aren’t thinking about are the costs to get this all going. Yes, you can go to Google and start an Adwords program by yourself with a few hundred bucks. However, what you are going to find is that paid search is a science. One that requires a lot of knowledge and experience if you want to see any kind of significant return. Yes, you can pick up a book and start learning on your own for free. It will cost you though. In the time you are learning, you will be losing money with your paid search program because of the time it’s going to take you to learn how to optimize it properly. You have to also consider, landing page development. Are you going to design and develop the landing pages yourself? If not, you will have to pay for that. How about SEO? You CAN pick up one of a thousand books on the subject and figure out how to do that yourself. But, will you write your own copy? Do you know how to go into the code and modify things there? Do you know how to go out and get links pointing back to your website? Again, another thing you COULD learn on your own. But most of the time business owners don’t have time to do all this on their own. They need help and that help costs money.
Free isn’t always Free. Yes, there are tons of free tools out there to make your life easier. Someone still has to implement those tools and make them work for your business. Great example. Google Analytics is free, but most people wouldn’t have the slightest clue on how to setup an account, grab the code and implement it on their website. There are even videos on how to do this. Still, most business owners won’t do this themselves. Which is why you HAVE to plan for the tactical execution. You have to think of all the things you aren’t thinking about. You have to figure those costs into your overall marketing plan. If not, costs will easily spin out of control.
