When business is moving along nicely, and money is flowing, it may seem like a no-brainer to cut marketing expenses to stack extra cash. Of course it feels great when the bays are full day after day, but I would caution against cutting your marketing budget under the guise of today’s success. As someone who has danced the seasonal shuffle, I can assure you even the fullest bays can empty out, and it’s much easier to keep the marketing machine going than to stop and restart it. Just because business is good now doesn’t mean it will remain steady. You must stay vigilant with your marketing, as it is often the first touchpoint for most customers that enter your doors.  

Here are a few ways to keep your marketing efforts moving all year long.

• Set a spend and stick to it. This should not be a haphazard number you pull from midair. This should be a calculated number you commit to spending throughout the year for the acquisition of new foot traffic and community efforts. Ideally, you want to take the expected gross sales you would like to hit and spend about 5%-6% of that. I spend an average of 7% annually, and I find that works well for us. Sit down and do a little math to make this decision before the end of the year. Whatever percentage you choose to allocate, organize the way you put it to work.
  
  
• Make a marketing calendar of where you will spend next year’s marketing money. This provides a path and a commitment to the effort. It also introduces a tracking system for year-over-year to see the history of your efforts. When you know what you spent money on, you can track it to see if that expenditure was successful. Everyone will ask you for money, but you can’t give it to everyone. It’s important to know what your core beliefs are, what your marketing messages will be, and where you will place that message. Then you need to know if it’s working.
  
  
• Track the spending. Everyone talks about the ROI, but I’m not sure everyone digs into it. If I’m spending $100, I want to see a $300 return at the bare minimum. You need a standard for your ROI, and then once you’ve committed to your standard, you need to make sure your investment is working for you. It is easy to spend money on ads and other tools and never track their success, but that’s like setting your money on fire. Spend time on your reporting and figure out if your expense was worth the return.
  
  
• Keep going. No matter the ups or downs, don’t stop investing in your marketing efforts. Once you’re in a good rhythm of planning and tracking marketing, you’ll see the benefits of continually moving the marketing pendulum. The lag between shutdown and startup of online ads can break a business, and inconsistent messaging makes Google unhappy. A constant stream of content and strategic marketing efforts creates a more stable calendar and workflow. So, keep efforts going both online and locally all year long.  

Marketing your business doesn’t have to be hard, but like anything worth gaining benefit from, you do have to put in some effort. Planning, preparing, and presenting consistent marketing can help secure full bays all year long, and get you out of the seasonal shuffle.