You are spending money on marketing. Do you know if it is working? This week: how to tell an investment from an expense.
Marketing done wrong is expensive and distracting. Done right, it is necessary.
InvestBetter™ episode 3 is about the difference: when marketing is an investment, and when it is just an expense you pay and hope.
Marketing is an investment when you can measure what goes in, what comes back, and how long it takes. When you cannot, it is an expense you pay and hope. That is the whole marketing investment vs expense question, and most business owners who run ads, post, or pay an agency could not defend the spend if asked. In this episode Sten Morgan talks with Dr. Dave Touhill, a marketing and growth strategist who has worked with large brands, about why marketing is not a thing you hand off. It is building relationships.
Marketing investment vs expense: which is yours?
It depends on what comes first. Treat it the way you would any other decision in your financial plan, and run it through the same Investment Decision Filter you would use for a stock or a property. Dave's first step is not ads. It is modeling: find the businesses already doing it well and start where they left off, not from scratch. His second step is proving the offer by hand. Get ten people a real result, then twenty, before you pay to scale. Early on, the cost of marketing is your time: phone calls, conversations, knocking on doors. If you cannot sell it to one person in front of you, more traffic will not fix it. Once it works, it is an investment. Before that, it is an expense.
What is the growth flywheel?
Four steps that repeat. Dave is clear that this is not a fad or his invention; it is how people have always decided who to trust. Draw it on a whiteboard and ask which step is lagging.
Attract
A referral, an event booth, useful content, an ad. The only goal is that the right people learn you exist.
Engage
Teach generously and solve a problem with no expectation of return. Give away most of what you know. The 5% people pay for is the package and the accountability.
Convert
Once trust exists, invite a small commitment. The first conversion might just be an email address. That is what they paid you.
Delight
Get them the result you promised, then educate them on why it works. Delighted customers go out and attract the next ones, and the wheel spins again.
Do this week
- Draw the flywheel and mark the step that is lagging.
- Call one customer who left and ask what was valuable and what was not.
- Block several hours this week for growth, not delegation.
Dave's last word is the hardest one: no one is coming to fix your growth for you. Model other people, ask for help, but you are the catalyst. Shiny objects, fads, and handing it to an agency before the model works are how marketing quietly turns back into an expense. Once it works, pour fuel on it.
The growth flywheel, a quick self check, and three actions you can take in the next two weeks, all on one page.
See where you stand across the core areas of a plan. It is not a financial plan, but it is a clear first step.
One short note a week with the new episode. Nothing else.
FAQs
Is marketing an investment or an expense?
It is an investment when you can tie what goes in to what comes back. That requires a proven offer, a clear audience, and a flywheel you can measure at each step. Spend before that is an expense.
What is the growth flywheel?
Attract, engage, convert, delight. Delighted customers attract the next ones, so the wheel keeps spinning. It is a business model, not just a marketing model.
Should I hire an agency to handle my marketing?
Not until the model is proven. If you do, treat the agency as a team member with a team member's accountability, not a vendor you ask for results each week.
