Summertime, and the Business is Easy: Why Waiting to Invest in Marketing is a Big Mistake

 

By Sherri L. McLendon

 

People in business put off thinking about marketing for a lot of reasons. They say things along the lines of “I’ve got to do some marketing…”

 

Then they add the “but.” The rest of the line goes something like this:

 

• Business is good right now, so I need to wait.
• Business is bad right now, so I need to wait.
• Business is busy right now, so I need to wait.

 

Are you rolling your eyes? I hear this one variation pretty much all the time, and I find it really hard not to roll my eyes. Really. Because you know and I know the truth.

 

Denial is not a river in Egypt.

 

Right now there are five files on my desk from women who said to me recently “I’ve got to do some marketing.” In each case, she’s had a specific vision for her business. The concept behind the vision has do-ability. But the sun is shining and the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming and the kids are out of school and business is booming. So all is right in the business world, right?

 

Not so much.

 

Like the rise and fall of the Nile, our businesses also have periods of ebb and flow. Generally speaking, consumer confidence and sales are higher in the warm, bright months. Often, business slows in the colder months, especially in the months of January and February. After the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, most individuals’ focus turns inward as we look ahead to the New Year. About this time, business owners who haven’t planned their marketing so that they can ride out the slower months begin to enter something conscious business coaches like to call the “feast or famine” cycle. As the cash flow hits peaks and valleys, it gets increasingly difficult to maintain a baseline of income, and therefore, operations. Desperation sets in, and the business owner feels the need to respond to the crisis. Then they say that thing they say: “I’ve got to do some marketing.”

 

Ignoring the timings of one’s business cycles is a mistake. You need to do some marketing.

 

In a slow economy, it can take anywhere from three to six months for a contact to become a warm relationship and then a good client. So if you’re not marketing when things are good, you’re making a mistake.

 

In the spring and summer, nature’s emphasis is on growth and expansion. Nature is a wonderful model for business people who need to do some marketing. If you say you want your business to grow, but you continue to work in your busy-ness rather on your business, you’re making a mistake.

 

If you have no clear idea about what is needed now in your marketing in order to bring money in the door three to six months from now, you’re making a mistake. Actually, you’re probably making two mistakes. If you don’t know how your business cycles, then you don’t know how the cash flows in and out your front door. That would be a mistake, too.

 

Let’s look at this in simple terms.

 

Money is currency. It’s where you are right now. If there is a problem in your business, it always shows up in the money first.

 

When you fall behind in your responsibility to bring qualified clients in the door, it creates a strong undercurrent. Catching up when you fall behind is harder than remaining current. Did you ever try to tread water in an undertow created by rapids or ocean tides? Then you know what it feels like to try to catch up when you’re in over your head. To catch up, it’s really easy in our consumer economy to generate new debt to manage old debt. Plus you have to pay interest.

 

However, the natural tendency of money is to generate more money. Money pooled in the right location is increased by more money. Let’s go back to where Joe Business is right now, happily current in matters of money. He’s got a little more than he needs, and things are good. He buys a boat instead of investing in his business.

 

Joe’s office mate Joan is smart, and she knows that both water and money like “buckets.” She knows she needs to communicate the value she offers her clients over time. So she designates a bucket for money to invest in her business right now to create the business she wants later. She plans her marketing, and works on her plan. She also designates buckets for the things she wants later. As she remains current in her relationship with money, she consolidates and retains 10 percent of her gross income in these designated buckets. Her life force energy in the form of money continues to grow and regenerate. Her business is solid and grows.

 

She has a plan to create sustainable increase in clients and currency.

 

Joe, on the other hand, needs to do some marketing. And he’s selling his boat on CraigsList.

 

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Sherri L. McLendon, MA, www.sherrimclendon.com, is a conscious business coach and marketing public relations strategist in Weaverville, N.C. She is currently writing a book, “From Zero to Shero: How to Start from Behind, Get Ahead, and End Up a Winner in Your Business,” based on her own successes as a global online entrepreneur.