Book Appointment

YOUR PARTNERS FOR GROWTH°

We had a conversation last month with a client who was frustrated. They had spent six months and close to Ksh 300,000 on marketing. Facebook ads. Instagram promotions. A new website. Printed flyers distributed across two estates. WhatsApp business campaigns. And after all of that? Three enquiries. Zero conversions. No new clients. The problem was not that marketing does not work. The problem was that cheap marketing always costs more than expensive marketing in the end.

The Real Cost of Cheap Marketing 

What Cheap Marketing Looks Like

Cheap marketing is not just about price. It is about approach.

It is hiring the cheapest designer because "it is just a flyer." It is running Facebook ads without testing the copy or the audience. It is building a website because everyone has one, not because you have a clear plan for what it needs to do.

It is activity without strategy. And activity without strategy always feels like progress until you check the numbers.

The Three Mistakes We See Most Often

1. Marketing to Everyone Instead of Someone. 

We worked with a furniture business in Nairobi that was advertising to "anyone who needs furniture." That sounds logical until you realize that a university student furnishing a bedsitter and a corporate client outfitting an office are two completely different people with completely different problems.

Their marketing was trying to speak to both and ended up speaking to neither.

2. Spending Money Before Testing the Message

Most businesses spend money amplifying a message before they know if the message works.

They design the flyer, print 5,000 copies, distribute them across town, and then realize nobody is calling. By that point the money is gone and there is no way to know what went wrong.

The businesses that win test small first. They try different messages on WhatsApp status. They run a small Facebook campaign to 500 people. They send an email to 50 existing clients before they commit to the big spend.

Testing is not glamorous. But it is the difference between Ksh 50,000 wasted and Ksh 50,000 that generates real business.

3. No System to Track What Actually Works

We ask this question to every client: Which of your marketing activities brought in your last three clients?

Most cannot answer it.

They are running five campaigns at once and have no idea which one is working. So they keep spending on everything, including the channels that are doing nothing.

If you do not know where your clients came from you cannot do more of what works. And if you cannot do more of what works you are just guessing with money.

What Good Marketing Actually Looks Like

Good marketing is not louder. It is clearer. 

It speaks to a specific person with a specific problem and offers a specific solution. It gets tested before it gets scaled. And it gets measured so you know exactly what is working and what is not.


At OKUTTA'S CONSULT we help businesses close these gaps through Marketing, Real Estate, Business Consulting and Insurance & Investments.

Ready to talk? Reach us at 📞 0100928550 or visit www.okc.co.ke

Subscribe to Words To Live ByPaul Okutta's personal newsletter — for leadership and sales insights every two weeks.


 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Math Captcha
72 − 69 =