Is Advertising an Impulse Purchase?

Yesterday I was talking with one of the very talented people who help make our company successful and she said something that really got my attention.

"Advertising is an impulse buy for a lot of small business owners."

I had been thinking this for a long time but I never put it to words. Good thing I have smart people around me!

It's a little disturbing to me that there is a LOT of truth in this statement. It's disturbing because for most small business owners advertising is critical for them to grow their business. They need to reach out to people in their community in a broad way. Yet they often have little time to do much direct promoting or selling themselves.

Like my dear old dad (who has helped hundreds of people grow their businesses) likes to say "if you don't have revenue, you don't have a business". Of course, you only have revenue if you have customers.

And you need to promote your business if you want to get customers. Aside from having the money and time to invest in starting a business, there is nothing more important than marketing your business. Yet, many small, local business owners buy much of their marketing on impulse rather than as part of a plan.

I wonder why this is. Would Sir winston Churchill call this "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"? Or am I just a little fuzzy this morning because I haven't had my second cup of coffee yet?

Please let me know what you think.