How Much Time Should You Spend on Marketing?

In the last section I discussed the good business plan advice a Small Business Development Center director gave me 10 years ago. He also said this on the subject of marketing:

You should plan to spend about 20% of your time on marketing activities.

I did. I have. I still do. And so should you.

It’s a target percentage, of course, so there are periods when you may do more or less. If you’re just starting your business and don’t have many clients yet, then you’ll want to spend a significant portion of your time on marketing and other business development activities.

Let me tell you a bit about my strategy for building business development time into my calendar and offer ideas to help you make a similar commitment.

Strategy 1: Schedule time for marketing. I recommend that you schedule marketing time into your calendar in the same way that you schedule time for other activities you consider important. Creating the space for business development activities helps ensure these actions won’t get shoved to the wayside and allows you to focus and get depth. I aim for the equivalent of one day every one to two weeks. My ideal is a single full day and I know others who commit to approximately 2 hours daily. The key is to find a rhythm that works for you.

Strategy 2: Make it sacred. It’s tempting to reschedule marketing time, particularly if marketing activities aren’t enjoyable to you. We’ll talk more about the enjoyability factor a little later in this chapter, but for now, I urge you to make the 20% commitment and stick to it. Do this for 90 days (or for as little as 21 days, if you choose a daily marketing routine) and it will become a habit for the long run.

Strategy 3: Make it a regular commitment. It’s generally not helpful to avoid marketing for a while, then occasionally throw four or five days at it. The most effective marketing approaches are regular events because you want to create continuity and momentum for yourself and regular connection with your target markets.

Strategy 4: Add “big thinking” time to your calendar. If you’ve got a busy practice like mine or are transitioning from full-time work in another arena, then the opportunity for in-depth reflection about your craft and your business is hard to come by. For 10 years I’ve scheduled quarterly “thinking retreats” of one to two days and they have become such a treat that I look forward to them with great anticipation. They’re not days when I do any marketing activities. They’re days when I sit back and think about the bigger questions of my work: How am I doing? Is this direction working? What’s not working? What do I want to do more/less of? Am I feeling stretched in a good way? I recommend choosing days when you won’t be disturbed or tempted by other activities. I’ve even, on occasion, booked myself a room at a quiet inn in the mountains or on the coast…someplace I find inspiring and which feeds my soul.

Strategy 5: Feed your mind. Some of my most successful marketing ideas have come to me when I’m sitting in workshops, retreats, or meetings I find intellectually titillating. Or when I’m doing creative activities like writing or dry stonewall building (two of my hobbies). Other mediators have told me of similar experiences. Get out of your business and get out of your ADR chair regularly. Renew and stimulate your mind and you’ll often find the benefits go well beyond the creative activity or learning experience itself.

Copyright © 2006-2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.