The ultimate long-term growth sacrifice — to meet short-term business needs — is to reduce your marketing investment in times of decreased revenue, in order to boost your bottom line. The logic of decreasing your exposure in the times when you need it most causes a vicious cycle that cannot be easily overcome once the initial steps are taken.
I’m a fan of analogies and always take the opportunity to draw one out when given the chance, so here it is:
How to End a Baseball Franchise
How to End a Photonics Business
So, how do you keep your customers from packing their bags, renaming themselves the Nationals and moving to the greener pastures of Washington, D.C.?
Marketing is not an expense, it’s an investment. As with all investments, you have to pay for something today to get a larger return tomorrow. Every business should view marketing in this sense and realize that by investing in branding and product awareness, you’re building for the future of your business and staging it for growth.
Keep producing a product, keep doing it better and keep showing it to the world.