The Discover Small Business Watch survey results were released last week.  And I have to admit I was bugged by the finding that 50% of small businesses plan to cut their business development expenses such as advertising and marketing, up from 43% in August.  So many people just don’t get it.

It always amazes me when entrepreneurs reduce their marketing budget in tough times and then complain about the slow times for their business.  Uh… yeah!  What do you expect will happen when you cut marketing expenses?!

Sadly, most small business owners don’t seem to recognize the correlation between marketing investment and their business growth. And even fewer small business owners seem to recognize that the best ROI for their marketing buck comes in a downturn — when their competitors have slashed their marketing budgets.

At Infusionsoft, we often help businesses reduce their marketing costs and giving them a fantastic investment for their marketing dollars. Our solution enables small business owners to realize repeated gains in automated email marketing, fulfillment and ability to quickly create and sell products without too much legwork.

In working with thousands of successful (and not-so-successful) business owners over the years, I’ve found one characteristic that clearly separates the two groups. Successful business owners constantly look for ways to invest more in their marketing, whereas the unsuccessful business owners treat marketing as a discretionary expense.

Which side are you on? Are you feeding the marketing machine?  Or are you biting the hand that feeds you?

–Clate

[Photo credit bugeaters on Flickr]

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