In the stock market?

Capital equipment?
Gold?

Real estate?
Treasure Chest In the Attic?
Collectibles?
Or, are they invested back into the marketing of your business?

Yes, this is a personal question!

From childhood, we are told not to talk about money with strangers. However, everyone’s goal in investing is to return a profit.

You need to look at your marketing efforts as if they are long-term investments, similar to the other types of investments listed above, because they are.

Like many other long-term investment vehicles, an ongoing marketing strategy usually produces slow, steady returns.

As with other long-term investments, sometimes there is a loss along the way in marketing. However, there also are times when a marketing campaign can produce an instant and fantastic return on your investment.

Like with many other investments, at the end of the year you will know that you spent X amount of dollars on your investment in marketing and received Y amount of dollars in sales and profits.

“Invest in yourself – if you have confidence in yourself.”
- William Feather

You should try to calculate the exact return on your marketing.

Each piece of your marketing strategy involves time, effort, energy, and, in most cases, an investment of actual money.

Do not look at your marketing dollars as a business expense similar to utilities, office rent, or other fixed costs.

Rather, you should view them as an investment in the future success of your business.

The success of your marketing is something that can be measured directly.

Another thing that separates your marketing costs from most of your other business expenses is that you have complete control of the amount that you invest into your marketing program. The amount of time and money that you budget for your marketing programs can be expanded or cut back in response to how well or how poorly your marketing efforts produce the sales or profits that you expect.

It’s nice to know that you have the options of investing more into your marketing program when you discover a winning promotion or investing a limited amount during the testing of a new advertisement.

“Invest heavily in yourself.”
-Unknown

After discovering a winning marketing effort—a profitable success— you can invest more time and money into it safely, knowing that each time you invest X dollars you will earn Y dollars in profits.

One of the best investment decisions that you can make as a business owner is to re-invest in your own business.

How are you investing your profits?

Do you have a written “Mission Statement” that explains what your business is about?

Does this statement represent the vision, purpose, and aspirations that your business communicates to the world?

More importantly, do you tell your customers and prospective clients about your mission statement in every marketing effort that you create?

What should this statement include?
Typically, it will include your USP or SOB (statement of benefit). It also will include what “attitude” your business is trying to communicate.
Is your business and marketing attitude friendly, exclusive, or inviting?
Is It classy, low-priced, or responsive?
The list could be endless.

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing.
Motivation determines what you can do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.”
- Lou Holtz

It is important how you integrate your attitude into your marketing.
If the public sees and hears your positive attitude, then they will know and understand that you are proud of what you sell.

They also will know that you are very serious about your business and are willing to go the extra mile to keep them happy.

Your attitude should tell them that your business is ready to be their sole source —their “go-to” solution.

Your attitude should be communicated in everything that you do and say. If each of your marketing efforts is consistent and professional, then prospects will pick up on your attitude.

When the statements that you make in your marketing efforts are positive and consistent, your clients and prospects should understand that you will deliver on them.

This builds their confidence in you and will increase your sales. Consistency and attitude are the keys to getting people to remember your business.
Do you know what your company’s attitude is?

Are you getting this message to your customers and prospects every day?

Do you ask yourself regularly, “Is this information reaching my clients?”

Even more importantly, how much do you love helping your clients?

How passionate are you about it?

I have met so many business owners over the years who are just not very passionate about what they do or sell.

This makes me wonder, “Why did they go into business in the first place?”

Having passion for your business is an essential part of successful marketing.

In fact, the passionate drive to succeed is a huge factor in the success of any business.

If you love what you are doing, then your success will be so much greater than what you will achieve if you don’t.

Whether or not you are truly excited about what your business has to offer will be very evident to all of your customers and prospects. It will come across in every¬thing that you do, in all of the words that you write, and in how you speak about the products/services that you offer.

If you really believe in your business, then your intensity will be transferred to your employees in the amount of effort that they put forth, and to your cus¬tomers and prospects in a way that will increase their interest in your products/services.

If you are passionate about what your business does, the result will be more sales. It does not matter what motivates your passion, whether it is making money, or loving the “in-charge” feeling that you get with self-employment, or enjoying the freedom of setting your own hours.

If you maintain a love and passion for your business, you will find that many people will want to do business with you, both now and in the future. Passion breeds success, and success breeds more success.

If you don’t love what you are doing—if you are not totally passionate about it—then go find something else!

“Passion is everything.”
-David Copperfield

People will have a hard time believing you if you don’t have passion for what you are doing. Your clients and prospects can sense it in you when you don’t believe in what you are marketing.

You might fool them once, but you won’t fool them twice.

Be passionate about your business. It will catch on fire.

What are you doing to show how much you love what you do and the things that you sell?