The Inverse Relationship between Cashing Checks and Marketing - The Small Businesses’ Resource Allocation Dilemma

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If you are lucky enough to work for an organization large enough to have a dedicated resource or resources to the marketing and PR function then you can just skip this read.  However, for the many of us who are small business owners or sole practitioners the struggle to balance marketing/overhead-related activities with billable hours is never ending.

We all acknowledge the primary goal of the entire marketing flurry is to gain access to paying gigs.  And, once you land the client well, there is an expectation of delivery of goods and services.  I am not saying anything that we all don’t already know; already intrinsically struggle with on a daily basis.  We’ve heard it all:  “Feast or Famine” …  “When it rains it pours”….   And, we all continuously look for ways to ‘fix’ the problem – to somehow not repeat it.  When we’re ‘feasting’ it’s hard to imagine the impending ‘famine’ lurking right around the corner.

I wish I could say I haven’t fallen prey to what I sometimes just want to accept as a universal truth (mostly so that I can stop trying to solve it).  I think it’s somewhat akin to the way your favorite song writer suddenly finds ‘true love’ and starts writing syrupy, banal, candy-coated songs.  They’re ‘fat and happy’ – no pain or uncertainty – wreaks havoc with the creative process.  One secretly can’t wait until the ‘break-up’.

The only real answer I can come up with is discipline.  And, some of us are way better at it than others.  Have a set plan; a list of commitments (one of mine is this monthly LinkingRaleighNC.com article).  Don’t think about it too much – just execute on it.  If this plan has been in place for a while and you are cashing checks then you know it works; don’t give up on it.

There is a high likelihood that you will have to streamline the plan – maybe cutback on some of the activities, unless you want to give up sleeping or eating.  This is a good time to evaluate the general worthiness of the tactics on the original plan and euthanize those that haven’t been generating leads or the appropriate awareness.  When the famine returns you may need to resuscitate them so don’t burn any bridges.

Jacqueline ‘Jack’ Perez is Founder and Market Builder for Summit Strategy Partners, LLC, a Chapel Hill-based boutique strategic marketing and communications firm.  Jack helps companies align their marketing strategy to corporate objectives and uncover their Disruptive ConversationTM.  She publishes a weekly blog -  MarketingSmack.