The Customer Focus Series

Marketing budget sweet spot—a 198 word blog post!

What is the marketing budget sweet spot? I’ll be super brief with my answer. It took me decades to arrive at this answer, but I will give it to you in one minute flat (That’s how long it takes to read 198 words).

Here it is. After tracking all marketing efforts for many years, I decided that 5% of the budget was our number. We agreed to spend 5% of revenue on marketing and advertising—internet Yellow Pages, radio, direct mail—all combined.

5%.

If I spend less than 5%, I get fewer phone calls! So we always try to spend 5% per year on marketing, even if we’re not particularly in need of new business.

I often comment that Coca-Cola and Apple have continued their spending on advertising, even though they’re the two most prominent brands in their industries.

Always be marketing.

Throughout the years, that’s what I’ve learned. I used to say, “If you market only when you’re slow, you’ll have slow periods. But if you always market, you’ll be (more) consistently busy.”

Market on. Build muscle. See you next week.