One point I continue to stress with everyone I speak with is to be consistent in marketing your business. Ad hoc marketing produces ad hoc results.

Just as you need consistent fuel for your health, your business needs consistent fuel for its health and future success. Fuel for your business is leads, prospects and clients. Without demand generation, your pipeline eventually dries up and your business falters. I realize that sounds logical but sometimes it just doesn’t seem to resonate with business owners. I continue to see them spend money on marketing tactics that are not well planned and result in a disappointing return on investment. This type of behavior leads business owners to believe that marketing is an expense that is easily cut in difficult times. Just the contrary.

Small businesses need to think seriously about making marketing a consistent, long-term activity for their business, develop a plan and budget and stay on course. It’s the only way you can continually stay ahead of your competition and build visibility for your products and services.

I couldn’t agree more with John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing blog post Are You Investing in Long Term Marketing?, where he discusses the types of seeds you need to plant and nurture in order to develop your business’s long term growth. Balancing the today with your investment in your business’s future is crucial to long term success.