Everyday I get these cool spreadsheets sent to me.
They list out all kinds of whizbang metrics related to the paid traffic channels we use here at MFA.
Optin Rate
Sales Conversion Rate
Cost Per Click
Earnings Per Click
Total Ad Spend
Etc.
Truth is…
I personally only look at one thing — Return On Investment.
How much did we spend and how much did we make back?
On the front-end (for our customer acquisition funnels) I’m looking for $1 back for every $1 invested.
That’s it.
Actually, I’m okay going “reasonably negative” — making less than $1 back for every $1 invested — because I know the average lifetime value of a customer for us.
But that’s not where I have clients start with a new funnel. We start, on the front-end, at breakeven.
Anyhoo, what does this have to do with NOT using a marketing budget?
Well, it’s simple…
When you have a marketing funnel in place that allows you to bring back $1 for every $1 you invest into traffic, using an arbitrary marketing budget only caps the volume of traffic, leads, customers, and sales you generate.
If you’re breaking-even on your investment into paid traffic, why would you set an arbitrary limit to what you invest every day, week, or month?
It makes no sense.
Sure, if you don’t have a marketing funnel that returns your ad spend (breaks-even) it makes total sense.
In that case a budget will keep you from losing your shirt.
But, once you have a funnel that allows you to breakeven, the key to scaling your business and income more and more is… scaling your ad spend more and more.
It’s the difference between your paid traffic being an expense versus being an investment.
This is why, whenever I speak with a new agency about running more traffic for us, and they ask me, “What’s your budget?”, I always say…
“As long as we’re at break-even or reasonably-negative, invest as much as possible. There is no budget.”
See: The key to growing your business and income fast and big is NOT in trying to invest the least amount in paid traffic every month…
The key to big growth is in investing the MOST amount in traffic every month (when you’re able to breakeven).
All else being equal, the marketer who invests the most is going to scoff-up the lion share of the customers and sales.
Make sense?
(1) Get your minimum viable funnel in place…
(2) Test it with some traffic…
(3) Optimize it… getting it to breakeven…
(4) Then scale your investment into the traffic source more and more.
SIDENOTE: If you’re using live or evergreen webinars anywhere in your marketing funnel, one of the most effective ways to bump attendance and conversions is by using something called an Intensification Sequence.
I first saw it used with wild success by Clayton Makepeace over at Weiss Financial.
Then we used it to create a webinar at Strategic Profits that was bringing in $82.00 per registrant.
If you’re interested, you can learn more about the Intensification Process here.
