This article originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of “MOLD CONNECTION” magazine.
Marketing doesn’t need to cost the earth, but it does require planning and patience
In previous articles, we’ve covered a number of key marketing ideas – creating a strategy, taking marketing seriously, connecting expenditures to commercial outcomes, building a distinctive brand, and avoiding profit-eating discounts in favour of customer service.
If any of these ideas appeal, and you’re ready to commit to marketing your business, give yourself at least 12 months to get it right.
The worst thing is to dive into social media posting without an overall plan or clear expectations of what success looks like. You’ll spend time on the wrong things. You’ll almost certainly give up after a couple of months, a situation in which many business owners find themselves.
Allow 2-4 months for a decent strategy and plan to be built before going live with any promotional activity, such as advertising, podcasting or social media.
The key priority is to ensure that promotional activities are a direct outcome of earlier strategic and planning efforts, rather than predetermined at the outset.
“It’s crucial to find someone that is willing to go the distance and commit their time to your project, and this can be difficult to find.”
How much will it cost?
In the beginning, you don’t need to spend anything. Instead, you’ll need to set aside quality time to think and work things out, and stick to a regular schedule.
When the promotional activity begins, spend small and observe the results. If the results are promising – and especially if the activity is “self-financing” – you can spend more with confidence.
But you’ll only know this if you first set up a reporting framework, which will give you much greater clarity about what’s working – and what’s not – to guide decision making around marketing spend. It’s just another example of how crucial preparation and planning are.
What’s the process?
The basic steps are simple to understand:
1. Research
2. Objectives and strategy
3. Planning
4. Execution and reporting
5.Optimisation.
All easy to understand but difficult in practice. For instance, you may need to revamp your public persona or change your brand. You’ll need to hear unfiltered feedback from existing customers – and maybe commit more hours to your business than you anticipated, all of which can require a bit of soul-searching as the business owner.
To do it yourself or outsource?
Most businesses need outside help at some point, but how much varies greatly.
If you can find the time, and you have the inclination, there’s a large chunk you can do yourself. If you have neither time nor inclination, outside help will be needed. There are many options out there, from individual consultants, to agencies, to online courses, but it’s crucial to find someone that is willing to go the distance and commit their time to your project, and this can be difficult to find. They need to be flexible to your ever-changing marketing needs.
But ultimately, the most important point is to take marketing seriously and commit to using it as a driver of commercial value for your business.
