-

I decided to write this post because at least  twice a week, I am asked this question by companies with a national focus.  What does it cost to dominate a national market online?

Believe it or not I have a relatively accurate answer on how much it would cost to dominate any national market online.  Sounds fantastic, but it’s really rather simple, sorta…

Before I give you the answer I will give you my definition of what I consider dominating a national market online actually is.  Very simply, I would want to be in a position where I attract more leads or prospects than my competition, have a higher close rate than my competition, and have a lower cost per lead acquisition than they do. There are many other variables but with those in place you are in a good position to out spend them and out price them.

The businesses that can do best on the Internet are the ones that have products or services that are actively searched for by Internet users.  Since clicks from natural search results do not cost you anything and have a higher conversion rate than paid or sponsored advertising, the advantages to constantly being found by your target audience in the natural search results is an obvious vehicle to domination.

This alone of course would not be enough.  You would still need a Web presence that converts those visitors to clients, and you would need to engage in online brand management to enjoy continued success etc… but we will assume this is in place and if not then you want to hire a marketing quarterback that has experience in these areas as well.

Ok, so lets talk costs!

How much would it cost to dominate a national market online?

Let me give you both ends of the spectrum, and then the realistic middle.

At one end of the spectrum, I get business owners that are fully intoxicated by the Internet marketing hype they read on the web and just when they are in their most excited state, they contact me and offer up an entire five hundred dollars a month to dominate their national market.

As I begin to sober them up during our conversation, they wonder out loud, “how about just eight or ten of the biggest cities in the USA, could we do that?”

My answer is “would your competitors be willing to pay $1000,$2,000 etc.. per month to dominate in that many major cities?  Would they still be profitable and indeed probably making money hand over fist?”  If the answer is yes, then they probably are spending that and more, so all things being equal, your chance  of success is about zero.  If there is money in what you do and even more money if you get found then it will cost a “fair” amount to capture those sales.

What about the Internet marketing miracles that we read about?

This is of course what every business owner wishes for.  Going Viral, making millions thanks to Facebook etc…
For most businesses (99.9%) that is highly unlikely unless you just cured the common cold or are featured on Oprah.

But wait there is good news!

If you have a decent value proposition and close rate, teaming with a highly skilled Internet Marketer could take your business to places that traditional marketing could only dream of.

SO, The exact cost of dominating a national market online is:

1  full time great online marketer + a reasonable outsource budget (for his tools/workers) + a good business

I know, you look at my formula and say what’s “reasonable” and define “great”?

in my mind a great Internet Marketer has a proven track record of MAKING MONEY!!!
I could care less if they know how to get rankings or all the neat little tricks of SEO.

A great Internet Marketer is just like a direct marketer but uses the web.  Good at project management, training and keeping an outsource force, good at tracking, testing, copy, seo, social media, list management, auto-responder management, affiliate management, JV management and more.

Look for a persuasive individual that could sell ice at the North Pole.  Many of these guys are total do it yourself kinda folk but if you can find one with project management and outsourcing experience they can leverage that and move you along faster.

As an example, they don’t have to write all the good copy but they must be able to recognize it!
I would also prefer someone that is not so married to their opinion, that they neglect split testing and tracking.
Marketing is a numbers game and that is one of the reasons finding the right person is hard.
You are looking for a creative numbers guy, that is rare.

Reasonable Cost is defined by the possible rewards and what your competitors are doing.

You can do more with less based on how good your Internet Marketer is, but a reasonable budget is still required.
If you’re sending your marketer into a slug fest in an aggressive market he needs a decent budget!

For example if many of your competitors are building out dozens of web properties, releasing dozens to hundreds of content articles monthly, putting out a stream of video’s, active on social media then your marketer must compete with them.

At the same time a good Internet Marketer will get you more attention with five articles then your competitors get with fifty by crafting the right headline and going after the best keywords and then ensuring your articles rank high with advanced SEO methods.

Your Internet Marketer is your quarterback, he should know how to find the right mix of cheap article writers, bloggers, software, graphic design etc… that is good enough to accomplish what?  National domination.

So to fully clarify my thoughts on cost,
the minimum cost of entry for dominating a national market is acquiring an  individual that has the skill set to do so and to be able to provide him or her the budget required to execute their plan effectively taking into consideration what the competitors are spending.

The really great news is most companies could not identify and retain
a good Internet Marketer if he fell through their roof.

In my experience the people that are capable of achieving this will not take a “job” under
$85,000 and $150,00/yearly plus profit sharing so a traditional arrangement may not be the best approach.

Actually if someone claimed to be great at making money online and was willing to take a “job” for low pay I would worry. I have seen many companies hire a “Web Marketer”, that couldn’t sell water in the desert and has no clue how to leverage a buck on the Internet.  These are the guys that will give the go ahead on building 10k web sites, make you drop tons of money on “branding” and think paying $100 an hour for graphic design is just dandy.  They have never actually made significant sums of money for themselves or anyone from the Internet.  Their focus is NOT on return on investment and they do NOT get that a business MUST profit!

The great news is if you have a REAL budget and the right team you can explode your business.

In my opinion most companies that have products or services that are aggressively searched for online nationally, and have a scalable operation that can serve those consumers and  DO NOT hire or partner with a skilled Internet Marketer, are robbing themselves of the greatest growth opportunity available today!

If you don’t have the money that’s a different story (though you can often offer profit share to get around this)
but what really drives me crazy is when I hear business owners say:
“We don’t have the money to hire a full time Internet Marketer.”
yet they hire an extra salesman at 60k a year hoping his cold calling will help the bottom line and finally help them hit the big time.  ????

I have been in this game for ten years and I firmly believe that the Internet is still in the days of the wild wild west.  Opportunities abound because 99% of companies are doing such a poor job online.
Twenty years from now business owners will look back at the successes and say “Wish the web were wide open like it was back then.”

There is a killing to be made online but it requires the right people and resources.

What can you expect trying to hire a good Internet Marketer?

Well, it may be very different that what you are accustomed to.

These are generalizations but they are based on extensive observation.  The ones I know have varying formal education but almost all of them had to self teach themselves successful Internet Marketing strategies through extensive trial and error and generally they are entrepreneurial and got into the game because they like to set their own schedules and be their own boss.

You can expect that most will be really hard workers, up on Sunday at midnight plugging away.  You can also expect they will sleep in until 10 am on Monday and will not be keen on being told when and where they have to work.

This personality type  is driven by results and not keen on conformity 
They believe that if they increase your sales by 40% they should be allowed to do it from any location they want.
You need to decide what is more important, results or looking over their shoulder and having them punch a clock.

How can you cover your risk?

Give your new Internet Marketer six months at most depending on your current situation. If your not getting significant measurable results find someone else.  If the fault is with your business model or offer  they should have been able to make recommendations that quickly turn things around.

Do you require assistance with your marketing?
Contact me at 888-298-2237 or email me at peter at peterlessard.com

Tweet This Post