The Two Currencies of Growth for Businesses: Time and Money

Author: Jeff Swartz: Chief Media Office and Partner at Blink Advertising and Principal at Qujam

Small and midsize businesses understand the value of hard work, dedication, and building something lasting with those they care about. When it comes to generating leads and strengthening your brand, you have two powerful currencies at your disposal: money and time. Smart businesses learn to strategically budget and invest both to achieve sustainable growth.

Often, the day-to-day demands of running a small or medium size company can overshadow the critical need for proactive advertising, marketing, and sales planning. However, just like any other essential business function, these areas require dedicated resources – both financial and temporal.

The Power of Annual Budgeting with a Long-Term Vision

Imagine your annual budget as a roadmap for the next 12 months. It outlines where your financial and time investments will be directed to achieve specific, measurable goals. But this roadmap shouldn’t exist in isolation. It needs to align with a broader, long-term vision for your business – where do you see yourselves in 3, 5, or even 10 years?

Your annual plan acts as a vital stepping stone or first stop on your road trip, ensuring you’re making progress each year towards that larger aspiration. By strategically allocating resources annually, you avoid reactive spending and instead build a consistent engine for lead generation and brand development.

This line of thinking can and should, in my opinion, should be leveraged throughout your entire business. The concept of long term vision planning is well outlined for business in the book Traction by Gino Wickman. I highly recommend it to all entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Investing Your Time: Building a Foundation

Regardless of how large your financial budget is, time is an even more rare and significant asset. You just budget it.  Here are ways to invest your time wisely to generate leads and build brand:

• Internal SEO Work: Regularly update your website content with relevant keywords your customers are searching for. Optimize page titles and descriptions, optimize your directory listing, Google My Business, and build additional backlinks. This organic effort can significantly improve your search engine ranking over time.
• Customer Experience Optimization: Focus on providing exceptional service. Happy customers become your best advocates, generating word-of-mouth referrals – a powerful, free form of marketing.
• Thought Leadership: Share your expertise through blog posts, articles, videos, or even local presentations. Position yourselves as trusted authorities in your industry.
• Content Development: Create valuable content that addresses your target audience’s needs and questions. This could be how-to guides, FAQs, or industry insights.
• Networking: Attend industry events, join local business organizations, and actively build relationships. These connections can lead to partnerships and referrals.
• Review and Reputation Building: Develop a game plan to ask for reviews and testimonials. People are 10x more likely to leave a bad review than a good review is they are not prompted, so ask for reviews from happy customers.

Investing Your Money: Amplifying Your Reach

Strategic financial investments can accelerate your growth and broaden your reach:

• Advertising: Allocate budget for targeted online ads (Google, social media), local print or radio, or industry-specific publications to reach potential customers directly.
• Marketing Materials: Invest in professional brochures, business cards, and other collateral that effectively communicate your brand and value proposition.
• Brand Development: Consider investing in professional design services to create a strong visual identity (logo, color palette) that resonates with your target audience.
• Website and SEO Improvements: While you can invest time in internal SEO, a professional website redesign or technical SEO audit can significantly improve your online presence and search engine performance.
• Email Marketing: Implement email marketing campaigns to nurture leads and stay connected with existing customers.

Finding the Right Balance

The optimal mix of time and money investment will vary depending on your business goals, current resources, and industry. However, the key takeaway is that both are essential for sustainable growth. By consciously budgeting and planning your investments in advertising, marketing, and sales – both annually and with a long-term vision – your business can build a strong brand, generate consistent leads, and continue its legacy for generations to come.