A colleague recently asked my advice about a five-figure advertising spend he was contemplating. Should he or shouldn’t he?
We mapped out the risks vs. the rewards and also discussed alternatives.

It turned out that he needed to ask a different set of questions entirely.

5 Questions To Ask Before Allocating Marketing Resources

1. What’s the best outcome you can hope to achieve as a result of employing this strategy?
2. What does failure look like?
3. Why this medium and not that one?
4. Why do you believe this is the best use of your marketing resources?
5. How could you delight existing customers by devoting these resources to deepening connections with them instead?

Just because it looks and feels like marketing doesn’t mean it’s the best option.

And 3 Action Items

1. If you’re going to read just one post about marketing from Seth Godin, read First ten.

2. Then read Kevin Kelly’s post 1,000 True Fans—still relevant today.

3. Your About Page is probably the most overlooked marketing opportunity you have.
The About Page Guide will help you to write an About Me Page that works for you.

The opportunities for growth are closer than you think.

Image by Angelo Antonelli.