The Most
Dangerous
Number In Any Business
Recently , Apple announced new privacy changes that would allow users to opt out of data collection on apps like Instagram and Facebook as well as email marketing changes that would prevent marketers from using pixels to collect information about delivery and open rates , thereby making it difficult or even impossible for tracking and retargeting . The internet marketing gurus of the world spent a good deal of time gnashing their teeth and wailing about how this was going to end online marketing as we know it . Silly .
Of course , this is nothing new , and stricter data privacy laws are going to give marketers who live and die on this information and functionality a digital headache that is only going to get worse , which brings me to my point : The most dangerous number in any business is ONE . ONE marketing method that brings in all the customers . ONE salesperson who can sell and close . ONE client that represents a majority of your income . ONE media platform ( like Facebook ) that hosts your entire client base . ONE vendor that provides critical functionality to your business operations . ONE source of income . ONE investment . Any time you are dependent on ONE critical person , vendor , method or source , you are skating on thin ice , asking for trouble , and tempting fate and Murphy ’ s Law to wreak havoc on your business .
Many of the internet marketers today haven ’ t taken a recent history lesson on how fax broadcasting became banned and illegal , shutting down entire businesses overnight that depended on it for all communication with their clients . This also happened with infomercials : They were banned by the Federal Communications Commission until
1984 , when Reagan lifted the laws against them — a very rare occurrence of government deregulation .
Before spam filters existed , it was easy to get an over 90 % delivery and open rate . Today ? You ’ re lucky to get 20 % to open your email and 2 %– 5 % to click through . For years , I had my internet marketing colleagues call me stupid for gathering snail-mail addresses , phone numbers , and company names on lead forms . They insisted it was a bad idea because it suppressed conversion ( truth ). But where are they now , with 80 %– 90 % of their emails never even getting through and no other way to identify or communicate with the lists they built of unconverted leads ? Their “ one ” means of communication has now disappeared , and they ’ ve got no other recourse .
This is the same warning I have for small-business owners who run their entire business on Facebook or Instagram . These are platforms they don ’ t own and can ’ t control . What if Facebook suddenly decides it doesn ’ t like you or your group and shuts you down ? What if it becomes regulated to the point where you cannot host such groups anymore ? Or what if Facebook decides to start charging per member or becomes prohibitively expensive to advertise , like it has in many cases for Google AdWords ?
Of course , most small-business owners don ’ t want to think about these things . Such problems are unpleasant , and sufficient are the demons they ’ re slaying today , without having to worry about what ’ s hiding under the bed out of sight — but worried you must be .
You can lose that star salesperson or tech to a competitor , illness , or personal crisis . You can lose that loyal-tothe-end client who LOVES you to a merger or acquisition
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