Is marketing an expense or an investment?

When done right, marketing is an investment...here's how to do it right.

Years ago, my sales mentor, Steve Clark, taught me that...

People don't do business with you for one of two reasons: they haven't heard of you...or they have.

What that means is if you're a dirtbag, good luck and good riddance. You reap what you sow.

However, most of you reading this are good people offering a good product or service, but I'm guessing you fell prey to the "if you build it they will come" lie or the equally insidious, "just build a better mousetrap."

How are those working out for you?

If you view your marketing campaign as an expense rather than an investment, you’re likely denying your business the incredible ROI that it has to offer.

Businesses that benefit from major marketing returns continually fund their campaigns because they view it as one of the essential components driving growth and success.

In fact, it’s common practice for extremely successful businesses to continue investing in what helps them thrive, regardless of limited finances or the state of the economy.

This includes training and development, technology, physical location, employment, and, of course, marketing, advertising, promotions, and branding.

Nonetheless, some businesses still look at marketing as an expense, rather than an investment. It’s an easy misconception to start off with, but it can lead to self-sabotage.

Are you looking at things the wrong way?

Typically, when you see something as an expense, its necessity comes into question, and then cutting back soon follows.

Strangely enough, companies tend to do this not only when times are tough but when business is flourishing as well. This is a mistake.

When a sapling becomes a tree, it doesn’t stop relying on the sunlight, soil, and water that helped it reach that point.

A business that looks at marketing as a stop-and-go practice and sets it aside as soon as sales are up is like a tree surviving in a drought. It can live off the last rainfall for a while, but not forever.

If you want to enjoy the same solid ROI from a marketing plan that other successful businesses do and develop a marketing campaign that truly helps you grow your brand and increase revenue, you need to retrain how you look at marketing, where your budget is concerned.

This is not an expense; it’s a sound and necessary investment in the most important element of your business—your brand.

Change your perspective.

As a business, your brand is your most valuable asset, and you can either neglect it or nurture it. Neglect it and though your business might survive, your potential for growth will be lost.

Nurture it, however, and you can open the door to the nearly unprecedented growth that is attainable in this day and age.

According to Millward Brown’s BrandZ Top 100 Valuable Global Brands for 2006 to 2015, brand value increased over the last decade by 126% to a staggering $3.3 trillion.

This comes despite the economic crisis that beset the first half of the last 10 years. Even a small business owner with an equally modest marketing campaign can see the value of continuing to invest in his or her own brand when facing this awe-inspiring statistic.

Businesses that view marketing as an investment embrace their branding strategies as one necessary part of a whole unit.

It is the legs of the body of a company that help it get from point A to point B and beyond. Don’t cripple them with a misguided perspective.

Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.