I’ve been running a small print shop for over a year now. I come from a marketing background, so connecting a print shop with my agency seemed like a perfect fit. It turns out, I was right. The two companies work really well together, handing clients back and forth and offering higher value to customers. It’s a great fit.
One of the things of growing a small business is spending money on equipment and tools to offer better value to customers. We’ve done a lot of that recently at Zipp. We feel we have a strong portfolio of machines to offer our customers better products, speed, and variety.
We have to be careful not to build up a bunch of overhead in the name of growth. As I see other businesses work on growth, I feel like we’re not alone in this. I’ve seen small businesses build up unsustainable overhead. It looks like too much stock, unnecessary spending, or ineffective advertising. That last one is important to pay attention to as it’s meant to grow your business, but can easily turn into deadweight.
I see businesses spending hundreds of dollars a month on worthless ads that are ineffective in their targeting, creative, and placement. As I work to grow these businesses, I am getting more and more detailed on how effective my advertising is. In the growth period we’re in, we can’t afford to spend dollars on overhead and ineffective advertising.
Don’t let your advertising turn into worthless overhead. Where have you tightened your business belt to be more effective and efficient?