Marketing & Brand Growth
“It feels like it is working” is not the same as knowing
Marketing is often judged on how busy the phone feels. This session shows owners how to work out, with a spreadsheet and some honest record-keeping, how much they spend to win a customer, what that customer is worth, and whether the difference is worth continuing.
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You do not need sophisticated software to tell whether marketing pays. You need records and honesty.
Reports from advertising tools and agencies show clicks, views and impressions. These are not rupees in the bank. A business can have a busy-looking campaign and a poor return, or a quiet-looking one that brings the best customers.
The aim here is a simple, defensible estimate, not exactness. A rough number you understand is more useful than a precise one you do not.
What the session covers
36 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, from definitions to a monthly habit.
What ROI Means for a Small BusinessProfit, not just sales.5
- Return on investment as what you gained compared with what you spent
- Why sales without margin can mislead
- Gross profit per sale: what is left after the cost of what you sold
- Why discounts and owner time belong in the cost
- The difference between ROI, cost per customer and return on ad spend
Different people use these terms loosely. Agree on what you mean before comparing numbers.
The Handful of Numbers That MatterSix, calculated monthly.6
Hypothetical example, with round made-up numbers: ₹10,000 spent, 40 enquiries, 8 new customers. That is ₹250 per enquiry and ₹1,250 per customer. If each first sale brings ₹1,000 of gross profit, this month lost about ₹2,000 on first sales alone, so repeat business now matters to the answer.
- Marketing spend
- Number of enquiries
- Number of new customers
- Cost per enquiry and cost per new customer
- Average first sale and gross profit on it
- Share of enquiries that become customers
What a Customer Is Worth Over TimeCautiously, not hopefully.5
- Repeat purchases and referrals
- Using your own records rather than a guess
- Being conservative: counting only what you have seen
- Time horizon: first sale, six months or a year
- When first-sale losses are acceptable and when they are not
A business with little repeat custom cannot rely on lifetime value to justify high acquisition costs.
Knowing Where Customers Came FromImperfect, but better than guessing.5
- Asking every new customer how they found you, and writing it down
- Separate phone numbers, links or offer codes for different efforts
- Using links that mark where a click came from
- Reading calls, requests and visits from your business listing
- Accepting that people see you in several places before they act
Delays and Long Sales CyclesDo not judge a week of spending by a week of sales.5
- How long customers usually take from first contact to payment
- Looking at rolling periods of a few months
- Matching spend in one period with customers who arrived later
- Seasonal swings that distort comparisons
- Resisting conclusions from tiny numbers
Marketing That Is Hard to MeasureNeither ignore it nor take it on faith.5
- Word of mouth, reputation and general visibility
- Asking whether customers mention it unprompted
- Treating such spend as a deliberate bet with a size limit
- Looking for indirect signs: repeat rate, direct enquiries, price pressure
- Why “we cannot measure it” is not by itself a reason to stop or to spend
The One-Page Monthly ReviewA habit that compounds.5
- The six numbers for the month and the three months before
- What changed, and a guess at why
- One thing to repeat, one to change, one to stop
- Writing down what you expected before the next period
- Keeping the page to see how your judgement improves
Exercises owners can do the same week
- Collect last month's marketing spend, enquiries and new customers
- Calculate cost per enquiry and cost per customer
- Work out gross profit on an average first sale
- Add a “how did you find us?” question to your sales process
- Draft a one-page monthly review sheet
What this session is not
- A tutorial on any analytics or advertising software
- A promise that the numbers will look good
- Accounting or tax advice
- A substitute for a qualified analyst in a larger business
How the session runs
A workshop of about two hours with calculators or phones. The practitioner works one hypothetical business through the numbers, using round figures and showing every step. Each owner then does the same with approximate figures from their own business. Rough numbers are fine, and the discussion centres on what the answer suggests and how to improve the record-keeping, not on anybody's figures.
What your students leave with
- A plain understanding of ROI as profit, not just sales
- Their own cost per enquiry and cost per customer, as estimates
- A realistic view of what a customer is worth over time
- A method for finding out where customers came from
- A way to treat long delays and hard-to-measure marketing sensibly
- A one-page monthly marketing review
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Know what a customer costs you, and what a customer is worth.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.