Skinned vs. Sheared

I've been in the sales and marketing field going on about 7 years now.  Throughout my career, there is a quote from the movie Rounders I have carried with me: "You can shear a sheep many times but skin it only once. "

The meaning behind this can be factored into a multitude of situations and applied to the way any company does business.

Right now, I'm here to translate what that means between you and the web.

Take a static site for instance.

Say you spend x amount on a basic brochure site.  It doesn't do anything for your company other than provide it with a simple online presence.  No functionality. No CMS.  No SEO.  No fresh content.  No email marketing.   Well, now that's money you are never going to get back. You just skinned yourself.

Some might say a website is not a means for generating leads and, therefore, is not an avenue worth investing in.

I respectfully disagree.  And I'll tell you why.

Everyone uses the web when looking for any kind of product or service.  Even if you feel your business is referral based, those referrals are still visiting your site to check you out.

If you don't have an active, relevant online presence, you are putting your company at a competitive disadvantage…which is ba-a-a-a-a-ad (That's why sheep make that noise).

It isn't a question of whether or not a website can pay for itself.  It's a question of how many times over do you want it to pay for itself.

There are a variety of resources to use in order to maximize the ROI of your website, like email marketing.

Email marketing is an effective tool for communicating with your customers and generating repeat visits to your website.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) puts Email Marketing's ROI for 2011 at $40.56 for every $1 invested.

Now you can put a number on the amount of business you are losing by not utilizing it.

Companies are constantly growing and changing.  If your site is not built to evolve with it, it will result in countless missed opportunities.

When you invest in your website, you position it to be sheared for continuous profit.

You have to spend money to make money.  As Matt Damon's character puts it, "You can't lose what you don't put in the middle.  But you can't win much either."

While Matt was referring to no limit Texas Hold 'Em, the Cadillac of poker, capitalizing on what the web can do for your business is in no way a gamble.  It's a sure thing.

So when making the decision of whether or not to invest in the web, my advice is to pursue the route that will give you the most ROI…and allows your wool to keep growing back.

Comments

• By Michael Mayes on Tuesday, August 14, 2012
   

  Great Post

  Janine, Good Intel.