Clients will always be your cheapest source of funding, but a critical challenge for all entrepreneurs is how to scale up their marketing to attract these clients. A regular question we are asked is whether you can get funding / finance for a marketing campaign.
Some examples of marketing activities that might require short-term finance but deliver exceptional investment returns include:
- Exhibiting at a key industry conference or exhibition
- Overseas travel for either a conference or event
- Printing and distribution of marketing material
- Buying of radio, television or digital advert inventory
Being able to invest in marketing or distribution can be an enormous catalyst for growth for emerging entrepreneurs.
Are there options for short-term finance to help you fund these kinds of activities?
The online lending platforms like LulaLend, come in for some criticism for being “expensive”, but this is the kind of activity where they can be particularly effective.
To give you a practical example. Say that you need R25 000 to get some radio airtime or an exhibition stand. If you play your marketing cards right, this could translate into R100 000 of business for you.
If we use the LulaLend calculator, for the R25 000 investment re-paid over 12 months, you will need to make monthly repayments of between R2600 and R3080 (based on average LulaLend Score and Credit history).
Instead of taking the lump-sum up-front and throwing your cash-flow out, you could smooth out the costs. If the marketing efforts pay off, you could settle the debt quickly [without early re-payment penalties]
Often entrepreneurs and small business owners under-invest in their marketing and sales efforts and then miss out on the ability to crack a specific market. By having Access to Finance, they can immediately become more competitive and visible.
Check out LulaLend HERE.
Another tool to keep in mind is Bridgement. The tool allows you to improve your cash-flow by issuing you with a rolling finance facility against your current invoicing.
