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"I recently found "Dig your well before you're thirsty", the title of a wonderful book by Harvey Mackay." It is very smart advice for investers to invest their money, "Save your money before you need it", or growing your business, "Market today for tomorrow".

It has been seen that When times are tough lots of businesses stop marketing. They give reason, 'No one is buying so why should I advertise?' Some time some businesses stop marketing because they sell like crazy. And their reason - 'I can't handle any more business right now so why promote?'

There are Two key points here. Advertising is just a single narrow form of marketing. Marketing is about spreading messages. You send messages in a plethora of venues; advertising, customer service, by association, quality, public relations, sponsorship, awards, etc... And the second point; marketing is a long-term investment.

Everybody wants Selling is immediate. When times are tough you need to crank-up the selling efforts. If you are thinking How do you escape from a sales crisis. Them Improve selling skills, search out new markets and offer more value and most importantly be systematic. When there is a fire, just get rid of fire immediately. And that's the sales.

Preventing the obstacles of tomorrow is marketing. That is why it is said marketing is so difficult to justify or measure. In fact The good marketing you would do today will pay off in a few weeks, months or even years. But Only if you want to be in business in a few years.

Invest wisely in your marketing area. There are lots of principles of investing money that apply to marketing. Never put all your eggs in one basket. Your marketing message must reach your prospect along several avenues. That creates more credibility. For example; if you advertise in a magazine, sponsor a community event, and send out news releases and offer discount on your website. Your investment portfolio should be diversified, and therefore you should do your marketing. A sharp thinking for long-term strategy to 'make smart investments and hold' can apply to your marketing. Make a long term marketing commitment to yourself to support your costomers. Always Stick to it. Be consistent and persistent for what you say. That is smart investing and smart marketing.

Consider the different aspects of currency in your business. Cash is always the most obvious. A signed agreement or order is another aspect. Receivables are currency as well and you can even use them for collateral - or you can also sell them. But there are some forms of currency that look better than others. If cash is best then might be you never tempted to give credit to your customers. But you might lose some sales because of that. So you may decide to give credit to approved and reliable customers - knowing that sooner you can likely convert the receivable to cash. Even signed orders are also recievable currency - you can factor them to obtain it as financing.

Marketing has been another form of currency in your business. Good marketing always creates customer awareness, goodwill, education, credibility and a desire to gain it. All of that can be converted into signed orders, receivables and hence cash.

Indeed all forms of currency are convertible. But we must understand the fatc that the conversion rate is not 1 to 1 nor is it totally predictable. There are Some receivables that become bad debt. Some times Some signed orders get cancelled. Some marketing efforts dont work for you and they just spin off into the universe like a lost asteroid. For that reason never expect that every dollar, spent on marketing pays off the same.

You may believe that cash has always been a better currency than marketing. But Marketing can be better than cash because a creative and innovative marketing campaign can pay back many times over. If you realize that when you are marketing, you are creating currency - you can view your creative marketing in a more productive light. The more creative and innovative you are in your marketing - the greater leverage you get.

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