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Invest In Marketing Proactively, Not Reactively

Published on February 13, 2024

“Are you ready to invest in your future?”

“Is anything stopping you from investing today?”

As individuals, we’ve all heard sales pitches that start this way. Those are usually the salespeople who hide all information about the total “investment” until you’re deep in their process, and it’s logical to be wary of them.

But when you’re looking for the most intelligent way to use your company budget, that’s an investment in the literal sense. All businesses are built on that basic idea: By making the right strategic decisions about time and money, you accumulate more capital and funds. Simple as that, right?

Sadly, many otherwise well-run businesses see that thought process break down when it comes to marketing. Instead of recognizing marketing as a long-term approach that strengthens over time, they face temptation to gamble on quick wins. That typically comes in the form of ads with no marketing support.

They realize too late that’s the opposite of what they should do.

And it leads to a vicious cycle.

Has Your Business Hit Rough Waters? Don’t Throw Marketing Overboard

When marketing works correctly, it delivers incremental, compounding gains – much like a safe investment. It isn’t as flashy as the promise of “overnight traffic” offered by digital advertising, and for good reason: Mostly, that promise falls flat. By comparison, a sound marketing strategy gains momentum every month.

Most of the time, this is an open and shut case.

But a strange thing happens if businesses run into rough seas in the form of falling sales and declining customer retention. To save money, the first instinct is often to cancel pending marketing campaigns, and maybe pull the plug on current marketing. They then redirect those funds into ads or other “quick win” gambles.

In 99% of cases, that has two effects:

  • It poisons the future, so competitors who are still marketing accelerate their advantages over you.
  • It undermines your balance sheet, making any current cash flow issues more serious even sooner.

In almost all cases, slowing down your marketing is worse than doing nothing. We’ve seen this again and again, most recently in the way many brands were able to reverse their tailspin in the early part of the pandemic not by cutting marketing, but by doubling down as they adjusted their portfolio of offerings.

So, what should you do when you urgently need those quick wins?

There’s a right way to get them while controlling the associated risk.

Even When You Need Quick Wins, Being Proactive Is the Key

Cutting essential business functions, even for just a month or a quarter, is reactive. When you fall into a reactive mindset, you’re more likely to set off a chain of unintended consequences – that “vicious cycle” we mentioned. The longer you’re in reactive mode, the harder it is to climb out.

Mindfully shifting investments to where they’ll have the most impact is proactive. When the chips are down, a marketing agency can help you leverage “quick win” methods like online advertising without risking that, once your situation stabilizes, you’ve ceded the future to competitors by eating your seed corn.

Done right, under the guidance of an experienced marketing agency, digital advertising can work. After it does, it’s crucial to pivot seamlessly back to marketing. That lets you benefit from your ads without getting caught in the riptide of ever-rising costs and steep competition that can cause ad-driven traffic to dry up overnight.

Long story short: Marketing might not always be the priority, but it’s always crucial to the future.

And building a better future by starting in the present is what good investment is all about.

The Best Time for Marketing Is 6 Months Ago: The Second Best Time Is Right Now

When it comes to deepening your existing relationships while attracting new customers to your brand, nothing beats a long-term marketing strategy tailored to meet your specific business goals by a marketing agency you can trust. The sooner you start, the sooner marketing builds into a competitive advantage.

Not immediately, but soon, that advantage becomes practically insurmountable. As long as you’re marketing actively and in accordance with best practices, nobody can dethrone you just by spending more money. That simply can’t be said for advertising, no matter how carefully crafted it might be.

In the end, it’s about want versus need. You need to recover from the past, but you want to invest in the future. New York Ave can help you do both, so you’ll transition from reactive to proactive and reap the benefits sooner.

Contact us to find out more or get started.

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