As you begin your marketing journey you’ll soon be wondering how best to spend your meager marketing budget. If you have a budget at all, that is. If you’re like many small businesses, you won’t actually know what your marketing budget is. You’ll just spend money as you see a need to. Sound familiar?
Should you take out that Yellow Pages ad? How about a brochure or flier? Business cards in two colors or four? A sticker for your car? What about a website or some professional photographs? The possibilities are endless.
Before you make any decisions at all about what to throw your marketing money at, do just one thing.
Nothing.
That’s right. Do nothing. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but really, don’t do a darn thing until you have a chance to really think things through. Don’t ever be pressured by deadlines or an advertising deal that ends today.
You could end up spending all your cash on dud marketing “opportunities”.
Marketing falls somewhere between an art and a science. You’ll get very good at it before long (really!) but you need to remember to spread the risk. You need a well-thought-out, diverse marketing plan that’ll propel you forward. So no putting all your marketing eggs in one basket. And no counting them chickens before they’re hatched!
