Why You’ve Got to Keep Banging the Drum

Today we’re talking about why you’ve got to keep banging the drum. What the f**k does that mean? It means that when the music stops, people stop dancing.

That’s why you’ve got to keep banging the drum.

The point I’m making is that a lot of businesses abandon their drums too easily when they start a marketing campaign.

If they don’t see quick results, they give up.

They don’t crunch the data so they know whether they’re going in the right direction.

Maybe they don’t know the metrics that are really important to them – like how long it takes for a prospect to become a customer. And that could be measured in time, in the number of emails, number of text messages, or how many calls.

You need to know those things.

At one point for Codebreak, it took 18 months from joining our database to becoming a customer. Now we’ve got that down to nine months.

But I meet so many businesses that give up on their marketing campaign at six months.

So how could they know if it was working?

If you give up to soon and you stop filling the top of your sales funnel, you’ll see it in the bottom of funnel.

And you might think: “No, I’m right. I’m still making sales and I haven’t been doing my lead generation, so whatever I’m doing must be working.”

Then BAM.

You’re three months down the line and everything dries up.

It’s like driving a car. If you stop putting petrol in it, it won’t move. And you have to pay for petrol. Same with your marketing.

You’ve got to get prospects into the top of your funnel and nurture them down towards the sale, hitting them at every touch point along the way.

Yes it’s annoying, yes it’s frustrating.

But you have to keep doing it. You have to keep topping up the petrol so it doesn’t run out.

Will you see the ROI at the top of your funnel straight away? Not necessarily.

It could take nine months, especially if you’re providing a high-ticket service. Because the distance from the top to the bottom of your funnel is a lot longer.

But it’s not just about getting leads.

Those leads have to translate into bookings. To get that, you need to actually convince your prospects that they need you.

Take electricians and plumbers, for example. These days, there’s not enough of them to go round. And when you’re in an industry where demand outstrips supply, you’re absolutely laughing.

You don’t have to do this marketing stuff.

Same if you’re solving a problem that someone’s already got, like repairing a broken boiler. You don’t have to convince them they need it; they already know their boiler’s on the blink.

But if you’re installing boilers, and you want people to buy a high-ticket item like a Worcester Bosch which is a little more expensive?

It’s a totally different game.

Then you have to promote the benefits, like maybe it comes with a 10-year warranty or will be more energy efficient.

And from a marketing perspective, you’ve also got to think about how you’ll reach the people who are prepared to spend more on their boilers. Because if you’re selling cheap and cheerful, you’ll need a higher volume of customers.

Whatever service you provide, if supply is higher than demand, you’ve got to be good at marketing.

And I mean really bloody good at it.

I’ve got much more comfortable with banging the drum for Codebreak in the last few years. We’re not like other agencies and we’re not like any other business.

We do marketing with integrity and we follow the Stay Hungry mindset. There’s a good energy in our team and there’s always a buzz in our office.

You’re either going to love us or hate us, and if you love us, jump on board.

Because it’s great fun.

So, back to the topic. What happens if you stop banging the drum?

People forget about you. They might think you’ve closed down or you don’t exist anymore.

That’s why staying connected at all the little touch points along the way is so important.

There’s a catch though.

If what you’re selling is a bag of s**t, there’s no point serving people ads. This is a high-skepticism market and businesses have to work a bit harder to show their quality.

Trust is the key to sales, and sometimes I see businesses who play it a bit too cool and that actually creates distrust. They might say: “Oh, we don’t post very often on our socials” or “we don’t email our database”.

Great, so how can they trust you?

It can make it look like you’ve got something to hide.

I ordered a new sofa seven weeks ago and I’ve heard nothing from them. Not only do I now not trust them, but I’m getting pretty annoyed. You always have to be communicating so that you don’t erode your customers’ trust – or their patience.

A good way to get a grasp of your funnel is to look at it from the opposite side.

Pretend you’re a customer.

What does that journey look like for a customer, going through your funnel?

Where do they see your business for the first time? What happens after that? Who are they making enquiries to? And who’s getting back to them?

I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been to a website and sent an enquiry, and I have no idea whether that message even reached them.

It’s nothing but crickets out there.

And it’s not difficult to send a confirmation email: “We got your message and we’ll call you right back”. Literally, that’s all it takes.

It may sound small, but businesses who respond with radio silence are slowly undermining consumer confidence.

But silence isn’t just about not getting back to people.

You also need to be part of the conversation.

Whatever’s happening in your industry, you should be talking about it.

For example, a few years ago, everyone started buying electric cars. If you sell cars and you’re not talking about the shift to electric, people assume you don’t know.

That becomes an issue when you’ve positioned yourself as an expert in the past, and suddenly you’re at the bottom of the pile because you’re not in the conversation.

Clients expect you to be in the know.

Because if you’re not? It creates distrust, detachment and lack of engagement that could drive your customers elsewhere.

Just keep on banging that drum. Bang the drum about your values, your truths. Who you are, what you can do, and how you can help people.

Recently, I was featured in the biggest industry publication in the marketing industry.

It’s called, of course, The Drum.

And I talked about exactly that. I explained that you have to stay true to yourself and don’t be afraid if that puts people off along the way.

The more you bang the drum, the more you’ll become a magnet for the people who like what you’re about, and repel the people who don’t.

It’s OK to p*** people off sometimes.

As long as you’re not doing it on purpose. You’re not deliberately saying something controversial just to hook someone in. What you’re doing is making your position clear.

And if people get p***ed off by that? Not your people.

So having heard me do a fair bit of drum-banging, have we attracted or repelled you?

If it’s the first one, slide into our DMs and we’ll speak to you soon.

Don’t miss the next episode of Stay Hungry – we’ll dive into straight-talking insights on business marketing, growth mindset, and the realities of running a business. And if you want to take the hassle out of your marketing, we’ve got you covered with our done-for-you service.