One of the hardest things about putting together a solid Internet marketing plan, regardless of how successful it has or hasn’t been in the past, is trying to figure out where to allocate resources for the future. From search engine optimization and pay per click advertising to social media and video marketing, there are always more things to try and do. That realization can lead to a lot of confusion.
In most cases, this equates to figuring out where to spend your online marketing dollars, although it’s just as important to manage your time for the maximum return on investment. Either way, deciding where to devote your time and energy is important.
In order to help you to get the most of what you have, here’s a good rule of thumb: Use the 80/20 rule to your advantage.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the concept, and especially how the 80/20 rule dictates the way that most of your returns are going to come from a small number of online marketing activities. Keeping that in mind, it makes sense to put most of your time and energy into what you already know will work, while still being open to trying new things.
For example, if the majority of your business has come from Google searches over the past 12 months, then it makes sense to put most of your available time and funding toward the world’s biggest search engine. At the same time, why not identify two or three other marketing avenues that might pay dividends, and experiment with those for the other 20% of your budget? As time goes by, you may find that one of them will be successful, and you’ll want to shift a greater proportion of your budget in that direction. Once that happens, make the shift and then use your 20% to try something new yet again.
Applying the 80/20 rule to your online marketing budget is a great way to stop yourself from chasing fads, while still ensuring that you’re always experimenting and looking for better, more efficient ways to find customers over the Internet. Isn’t that exactly what every company should be shooting for?
