So You Say You Wanna Scale...

Marketing is a copycat business.

In any given week, I look at a wide range of promotional campaigns across different industries and niches…

Invariably, I see promotions that look so similar, I know that either one knocked off the other or they’re both working from the same template.

Don’t get me wrong, modeling what’s worked before… well, it works.

I’ve done it before myself, while always making sure I put my own stamp or that of the company I’m working with on the promotion.

But far too often I see marketers and copywriters “model” a promo without putting in any thought into if the “copy and paste” strategy even makes sense!

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it many times again…

What you do to get from $1M to $5M is different than what you do to get from $5M to $20M or $20M to $100M…

And that goes for all aspects of your business, including the promotional strategies you use.

Scaling Isn’t For the Weak

Harnish shares the love-hate relationship we have with scaling perfectly…

And his book includes some great case studies on scale in different industries. If you haven’t read it before, I highly recommend it.

What got me thinking about it was a conversation I had with a company over the past month I want to share with you.

It was with a founder who is currently sitting at below $250k per year in revenue interested in bringing in my fractional marketing team to help grow the company.

I laid out a detailed marketing plan to get the company to $1M in the next year and a 3-year plan to get to $5M in revenue…

And quite honestly, I think those levels are easily achievable.

The first response was excitement…

And then after a couple days, I got this response:

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I’m just not sure I want to run a company over $1M and deal with the things that come up at that level.”

Yes, scaling to different levels involves different decisions, different priorities and even different levels of responsibility.

Some people aren’t wired for that, and that’s ok.

But for those who are, here are the key things to consider:

• How must your TEAM grow as your company grows? Far too many companies hire for speciality roles either too early or too late. If you’re a sub $5M a year company, there’s no reason to have a full C-suite.

• How does your STRATEGY change as you scale? The campaigns you run and the way you sell will change as you scale. The offers you’re running today will only get you so far.

• How do your TRAFFIC CHANNELS change as you scale? One of the biggest mistakes a business can make when trying to scale is trying to do it everywhere, all at once. Having a clear, patient traffic strategy compatible with your scale strategy will not only help maintain your sanity, it’ll actually help you scale further and faster.

• How will your PROFIT MARGINS change as you scale? This one causes many businesses to stumble. Profits will vary through different stages of scaling, especially once you start putting more emphasis on paid ads.

This last one is an eye-opener for many businesses… especially those who bootstrapped a $1M business and got used to 75% profit margins.

Be realistic about your expectations when scaling and then put in place a sensible plan to hit your goals, and it can and will be a smoother ride.

Got questions about scaling or how to get unstuck?

Let us know and we’ll be happy to jump on a call and talk it through.

Jon and Chris