There is a very short answer to this question and it is simply ALWAYS! What I continue to run into, particularly with service based business professionals and creatives (like designers, stagers, and organizers) is a 
tendency (actually a habit) to have an uncomfortable roller coaster ride of have a full client load and then having not business, then a full client load, and then no business. The whole point to marketing is to even this out and create a regular flow of your ideal clients. It is hard to be going full tilt for several months then have it all come to a screeching halt and create that place of worry and sense of anxiety as you put your marketing hat back on again to refuel your pipeline.
Get your marketing motor running. STOP, instead create a permanent social media marketing system, an all the time marketing engine that has automated parts that keep your prospects engaged and excited until they become loyal clients. At that point, the same system will keep your clients hot and buying for a lifetime of profits and demand. Get off the roller coaster, eliminate the anxiety, and know that by keeping your marketing hat on all the time and your social media engine humming you are continually attracting your ideal clients.
Dive into the smorgasbord of social marketing options. Social media encompasses a huge range of marketing tools, far beyond just the social networks. It includes Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, ezines (electronic newsletter), article marketing, social bookmarking (DIGG, Delicious, Stumblupon, Technorati). The neat part about these tools is that while it can feel overwhelming when you look at all of them all at once, it is really a buffet of free and low cost options that when you pick the one that taste best in your business you can then implement them appropriately and many can be semi-automated and even fed the same content in different formats to keep your marketing FULL and FLOWING.
Does this sound like you? I was speaking with a talented creativepreneur just last week and she was feeling challenged because just a month ago, her business was running full out. She actually had to turn down clients because she had more business than she could handle. Now, her business has gotten a bit light again and when faced with an investment in marketing skills, tools, strategy, and training she is hesitating. She said that a month ago, she wouldn’t have hesitated (yet, it is likely she would not have had the time to implement). Now she has the time but resources are a bit lighter. There is never a better time than the time you are in, right now.
Grow your business, share your gifts and talents, profit well and regularly. When is the best time to market? When is the right time to invest in marketing strategy, tools, techniques, and training? Now and always and when the right tools and strategy are presented that taste the best for your unique business. This is all about staying in front of your clients and prospects, being top of mind at all times, and eliminated the pain of the business and profit roller coaster. Regular care and feeding of your marketing engine with social media tools, strategy and tactics will ensure that you are able to grow your business in a consistent and persistent manner and enjoy the peace of mind of a continual stream of profits and ideal clients.
As always, your thoughts are welcome and appreciated, please do comment.
Excellent post. I couldn’t agree more. I believe that you should always be doing something to market your business. I have fallen into the trap of “Oh I’m busy, I’ll do that later.” myself and I have also had to deal with the consequences. Keep up the good work, Melissa!
Thanks DeAnna,
I hear this from way too many business owners and it frustrates me because I know what is going to happen.
Always Be Marketing!
Warmly, Melissa
Hmm, sounds like excellent advice for SUSTAINABILITY.
The challenge with people is that they’re naturally fickle consumers, always chasing after the next ‘hot donuts’ and then the salad and then the meat and then more donuts until they finally realize that a healthy diet all the time with occasional ‘splurges’ is what sustains and NOURISHES them.
So it is with marketing. The constant slow-but-sure-release of reliable ‘marketing vitamins’ is the diet that will keep our biz healthy and the occasional blow out of frothy, creamy get-rich-quick indulgences must be balanced.
Sounds like a great topic for you Melissa, Success the organic, wholefood way!:) Its the cook in me, I can’t keep food analogies out of marketing because they are so inter-connected.
Thankyou Melissa,
excellent article and now sharing on every table:)
Jenni,
As always spot on with tasty analogies!
Hugs, Melissa
Great article Melissa and I know exactly how that feeling is! I happen to be in a ‘so busy I can’t find time to market’ time right now but 2 months ago I was practically starving for work! I’m trying to regulate and set up systems and shortcuts so that I’m not spending too much valuable time marketing myself, all the while doing so effectively. It’s a challenge but one I definitely need to work on!
Thanks Melissa!
Nita
Nita,
You are soooo not alone in this and the key is in the systems. One off launches and marketing tools are ineffective in the big picture, putting a well oiled system in place fuels your marketing engine always.
Hugs, Melissa
So true Melissa. Many other small business owners (myself included) fall into that cycle of feast or famine. You have no clients so you go and market, market, market and then you get some business and you get too busy to market. Or you think, now I don’t have to because I have work again. And then that business is over or those clients move on, and you have no work to do so it’s market, market, market again. By having a consistent system in place that is ongoing and as automated as possible, you no longer have that up and down cycle many small business owners are familiar with.
Absolutely Crystal! That’s what I speak on and mentor on. Providing systems to my clients that fuel their business with a steady stream of ideal clients and lifetime profits.
Hugs, Melissa
Hi Melissa,
Great article! Social networking is such a huge part of my business… I couldn’t see how it would do well without it. Most of my allies and prospects have been through using social media.
It’s an ongoing process and sometimes exhausting, but well worth the effort.
P.S. Really like your new template…feels a bit more welcoming and airier.
Thanks Michelle,
Yes I know the occasional exhaustion of social media but the necessity.
And thanks for the compliment on the new face of melissagalt.com!
Hugs, Melissa
A wonderful post Melissa. All of your posts are.
This is why, you as a coach and mentor play such an important role for us small business owners. It seems that you help to create an engine and then the whole process of social networking and marketing will go forward with less effort.
Thanks for your advice and mentoring.
Yes Shirin,
It is all in the engine and the system is the fuel that keeps it going so you have time for your family, your kids and fun while earning the money to travel, provide tuition, and everything else on your dream list!
Hugs, Melissa