Invest in long and short-term

Asset Managers ignore their own advice. Great at selling investing for the long-term to their customers, they totally swerve it when it comes to their own advertising. Most tend to focus on the here and now – what can I do today that will sell product tomorrow? You need to invest for the long AND short-term when it comes to advertising.

Working on the 95% not in market rule means playing the long game. Build the mental availability and make connections. Any networking expert will tell you that relationships are built over time. You don’t just walk up to someone and come straight out with a demand. 

Cultivate, nurture, grow – gardeners would make great marketers.

This is your FUTURE SALES activity. Measure it, optimise it, just not using tomorrow’s sales figures. Let’s not forget the 5%. Your short-term marketing does matter. It’s where you close the sale, moving from mental availability to purchasing capability. Tightly targeted, rational and interactive, this is where you match product to market changes, align with short-term sales goals or link to seasonal activity.

TOP THOUGHT #3

Practice what you preach. Investing in brand is no different to investing in the market. You’re in it for the long haul, with an over-arching goal that takes time and perseverance to reach. 

Along the way, there is the potential for shorter-term gains, gentle pivots in strategy and the need to capitalise on maturing opportunities. How you split your investment across long and short-term activations is as individual as you are, but optimum budget mix according to the B2B institute should be about 50/50 because you have to be pragmatic balancing mental availability and winning current clients to meet sales targets.

*The LinkedIn B2B Institute