Let’s face it – slow periods are inevitable in business, and it’s often the time when businesses cut costs around advertising.

Advertising is risky for many things, but it’s a risk worth taking, especially in slow periods. A good advertiser would take slow periods as a cue to plan for their anticipated up-time. A better advertiser would be consistent and advertise during quiet times as well as busy periods.

After all, 97% of all New Zealand businesses classify as small or medium enterprises – and you say you “don’t have the budget to advertise when it’s not busy”, or in simpler terms, “it’s too risky”.

Before we dive deeper into things, let me just say this; this is free advice. Advertising and marketing is our craft, and we love seeing good advertising. So let me start by saying this – no risk means no reward.

The age-old saying, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” is an excellent place to start in terms of explaining the risk we’re talking about. However, the other side of the coin is the “half that worked” – the part of advertising that produces results. That’s just the thing! When advertising is done right, it works (and in some cases, even when it’s not done right, it works – I’m pretty sure that’s where the saying, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” came from). So perhaps there’s less risk than you thought – or even that taking no risk is the riskiest thing you can do.

But, of course, you have limited resources, so you try to be smart about your spending – in turn, your content is DIY half of the time. There’s nothing wrong with doing things yourself once in a while – but it shows. So the question now is: do you value your business enough to care about the “small things”.

No matter what your primary motivation is – your business, your team, or your product – caring about the small things mean:

• building a worthwhile brand for your business,

• providing your team tools (like something as simple as a business card they can be proud of) that empower and motivate them,

• and giving your product the attention to detail it deserves (even if it means proofreading labels and copy twice more than usual).

All of which can be done during slow periods or all-year-round even. Advertising during slow times gives you the most precious real estate your business can get – your target market’s top-of-mind. Your competitors would have to catch up to you since they didn’t take the risk – don’t let it be the other way around.

Remember: advertising’s purpose is to build, empower, and launch your business to greater heights to produce results. Advertising during slow times gives you a better foundation and leverage for your busy period. You won’t have to start from scratch, and with good, self-less advertising.

There’s a time and place for everything, and the time for advertising is always. Sure, there are budget restrictions, but investing in good advertising is something your business should invest in simply because it can produce the results you’re after and more when done right and done with care.