Debt & The Winner's Mentality

You may have noticed that I was away form my blog last week, but that's because I was guest blogging on the blog of author and speaker Steve Harper (who is also someone I am proud to call my friend).  I hope all of you had a chance to catch my post

Last week, I ranted a bit about personal debt and the excuses people in debt make.  You may think that because I stress the values doing without and sacrifice when you don’t have the financial resources that I believe that all debt is bad.  

But nothing is farther from the truth. .

When it comes to business, I love debt.  In fact, I think you should spend as much money as you can—especially on marketing…

…provided you are making a positive return on your investment.  

And that’s the ticket right there.  

I see all too often when my clients get cheap on their marketing spending...

…to their determent,  

And I see it a lot when companies are either just starting out or sales are down.  This is when most people want to “tighten their belts.”  

But I say phooey.  When sales are down this is exactly when you need to spend more money on marketing.  Because when you market correctly, your marketing should make you money.  

And if that means you need a little debt to keep up cash flow until the money comes in, I say do it.  

You can cut costs on a ton of things, but marketing is NOT one of those things.  I will admit that I am biased here.  As a marketing consultant and advertising copywriter, I do profit when people spend money on marketing.

But I have seen the results when money is spent wisely on marketing. I’ve seen people who spend thousands of dollars a month on a yellow pages ad, but balk at paying a professional copywriter to write the ad--even though a good copywriter can almost always boost the response of an ad (one case I know of boosted a yellow pages response rate 400%).

Smart marketing is not an expense but an investment.  

So, if you are thinking about cutting expenses and worried about business debt, my advice is…

…borrow some money and launch a strategic marketing offensive.  

Sure you're spending money, but if done right (with the right strategy and solid copy) you'll be making it back and then some.  

To Your Success,

Carlon Haas
www.carlonhaas.com