Real Questions: How Much Time Should You Spend Marketing Your Business?

timebottleYesterday, I spoke at a networking meeting attended by top-tier advisors from many professions around the OC and the question came up, “how much time (and money) should I spend marketing my business?” My presentation went a little long (too many stories, songs and/or celebrity impressions) and I really didn’t get to answer the question, so I thought I’d dedicate a blog post to it. First, as I always say, the correct answer to any marketing question is “it depends.” And that’s not a cop-out. It really does depend on YOUR goals and YOUR expectations of YOUR marketing program. Believe me, the choices can be infinite by just shifting these variables around a tiny bit. chaussure asics But for the sake of argument, let’s say you’re running a small business where the business is dispensing advice/counsel and you are paid primarily for your expertise and the impact that expertise has on your clients’ businesses. You could use the good old 10 percent rule and say that you should be spending 10 percent of your time and your annual profits re-investing in marketing. Feels good, it’s a decent cut of both and probably realistically could be accomplished. nike And that level of investment would probably get you about 3-5 percent growth, doing just about what you did last year in terms of revenue. More resources invested typically does see more growth, but of course the real genius is in HOW it’s invested and what specifically is accomplished. As you know, I’m a big fan of remodeling the message and getting that fixed before ANY money is spend on anything. Once you have a great, emotionally resonating, powerful message, you have the core of your story. nike air max 2015 And how you tell that story, how you express your unique point of view in the marketplace is entirely up to you. If you want to beat your competitors, don’t just outspend them, out-think them and position your business in a unique and memorable way that works for YOUR customers and drives YOUR business. And if you need help, there are very smart, strategic and creative marketing people out there (ahem) who do this sort of thing for a living. Operators are standing by. adidas zx 500 pas cher (ok, we might let them sit).