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If you’re a business owner, a lot has happened already this year to make you stop and consider the state of your (and your business’s) money.
Inflation has every dollar shrinking in value, federal rate hikes have made it more costly to borrow, and while recent bank failures may not have impacted your business outright, it certainly caused a justifiable stir.
With all of this going on, my husband and I decided to meet with a mentor and financial consultant who has managed hundreds of millions of dollars in capital over the last 25 years to review our investments.
He pointed out that, while we both have various investments, we’ve primarily been putting our money into something that has paid off many times over standard stock market returns — and that something is our respective businesses.
After that meeting, I concluded it was wisest to invest more into my most reliable asset — my business. Sure, we have a lot of “safe” investments as well, but truly, in the long run, nothing has compared to our businesses in terms of return on investment (ROI).
The biggest investment I’m making is in my marketing: I’m increasing our annual marketing budget by more than 20% this year to over $7 million.
I made this decision based on some hard-won experience I gained surviving two economic recessions. The first (2008), I cut my marketing and we barely survived. The second (2020), I refused to cut our marketing and, as a result, growth in the last three years has averaged 20% after averaging only 5% in the decade previous. I learned that marketing is crucial to not only growing a business when times are good, but essential to survival when times get tough.
If you’re like me and know that your business is your greatest asset, I want to share three marketing principles I have followed and applied in order to strengthen my business and grow revenue despite recessions and economic…
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