Category: Uncategorized

So many things to spend our money on in business …phone charges, swanky laptops, business cards, accountancy costs, insurance, ink and paper …the list goes on.

Most people I know budget for these things in order to avoid being surprised at the end of the month and if you know someone who doesn’t have a budget and cashflow forecast please nudge them to remedy that situation.

However, how many of us budget for marketing activity? Hands up …let me count …one …two …three …hmm not many people. My experience is that marketing activity is often tucked away as ‘last thing to do on Friday’ or for when sales fall and we suddenly need to give our business a boost.

This is wrong …marketing is the flag waving activity that we need to do at all times, because if we put our flag down for a while people can think we have shut up shop. The dilemma here is that although we know we need to do it, which direction do we wave our flag in? If we wave it everywhere at all times people may get fed up with us, but if we limit our activity maybe we could miss a vital order. How do we solve this knotty problem?

Well, in my experience, we don’t need to.

The world works in mysterious ways and I’ve come to the conclusion that as long as we do some form of regular marketing activity we will be rewarded in time. It’s as if we are dropping pebbles into a pond …we can see the stone sink, but we don’t know where it will end up, or how it will disturb the other pebbles on the bottom. Over time all these little reactions add up to an ‘energy wave’ that ripples out and disturbs the ether.

If you think this is all a bit mystical and random, then remember the old marketing adage:

‘50% of all marketing spend is wasted. The trick is knowing which 50% that is.’

The mystery of marketing seems to be that as long we do something proactively good things happen for us in business. The energy we put into the world ripples around and creates an awareness of us and our business, leading to new orders and new opportunities.

So, this week maybe we can all look again at our marketing budget and ensure that even if we are uncertain about the cause and effect of our spending, we continue to throw pebbles in the pond. We can take advantage of the mystery of marketing!

Next week: Asking For Help

Apparently this particular group of specialist soldiers (the clue is in the title) are well known for not wearing their underpants. I will leave you to work out why this is so.

This strikes me as dangerous battle-fashion, given that I remember being taught as a kid that everyone needed to wear clean under garments in case they were knocked down and sent to hospital.

Why hospitals were even interested was never explained to us. It was one of thoe mysterious pieces of social lore that we just had to accept.

However, it does reinforce the view that underpants are jolly good things to have with us at all times.

Wi-Fi is the same.

We are so used to instant connectivity, that to not have it seems worse than a day trip to the dark ages. How will we check the news ten times an hour? How will we keep up with the mysterious pronouncements coming from that oracle of usefulness known as The Book of Face?

Well, truth be told …we wont. I’ve been told that something called 4G has been invented, but where I live we are still on 3F so internet is heavily Wi-Fi dependent. This means that once the Wi-Fi has been turned off we go dark.

We go Wi-Fi commando in effect.

This is great! Every Summer we turn off the Wi-Fi, park the gadgets and return to 1978 for a couple of days. Time slows down and reading a book becomes exciting again. Board games spring back to life. The days seem more peaceful and there is less stress in the house.

So, this Summer my invitation to you is to borrow from the best and go Wi-Fi commando!

1978 wasn’t really so bad and it’s good to be reminded of the simple pleasures in life and take a break from business and the electronic world for a while.

Enjoy yourself and unwind …flick the switch and make it happen!

Next week: The Mystery of Marketing