The Hidden Cost of Not Marketing Your Business

If you've ever thought "I'm too busy serving clients to focus on marketing" or convinced yourself that word-of-mouth is enough, this episode is going to make you seriously reconsider those decisions.

The truth is, you're either investing in marketing now, or you'll be paying much higher costs later. There's no third option. But most business owners don't see these costs until it's too late—until they're in a feast-or-famine crisis, watching opportunities go to competitors, or realising they've hit a revenue ceiling they can't break through.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the real costs of not marketing your business—the consequences that don't show up immediately but compound over time until suddenly you're facing problems that could have been prevented.

This episode delivers the uncomfortable truth you need to hear—but also the roadmap to fix it before it's too late.

Links mentioned: MailerLite

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Hey. Welcome to the New School of Marketing podcast. I'm Bianca McKenzie and this is the place where we break down marketing strategies that actually work without the overwhelm.

Before we dive in, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land I live and work on, the Palawa people of Luthera Wita. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present, and acknowledge the deep connection they have to this land, culture and community.

Now let's dive in and make marketing work for you.

If you've ever thought I'm too busy serving clients to focus on marketing,

or if you convince yourself that you know, word of mouth is enough and you don't really need to market,

or maybe you've been putting off marketing because you're uncomfortable with, you know, self promotion,

this episode is going to make you seriously rich. Reconsider those decisions.

Today we're going to talk about the hidden cost of actually not marketing your business.

The consequences that don't show up immediately but compound over time until you're actually in a crisis that you could have prevented.

Because here's the truth.

You're either investing in marketing now or you'll be paying much higher costs later.

There's no third option.

Let's start with the most common reason business owners avoid marketing.

They're too busy with client work to focus on it.

And on the surface,

this sounds reasonable.

You've got clients to surf. You got deadlines to meet. You've got work to deliver.

Marketing just feels like something that you'll get to when things slow down a bit.

And I've seen this with so many businesses that I've worked with over the years.

Here's the problem, though,

with this thinking.

If you're only working on your business when you have capacity,

you're building a business that runs on luck,

not on strategy.

And eventually your luck is going to run out.

Here's what actually happens.

You're fully booked right now,

so marketing feels unnecessary because you know you're just too busy.

So you're basically turning down the marketing tap because you don't need new clients today.

But what happens when three months from now, a couple of clients finish their projects and then another one decides not to renew.

Suddenly you've got capacity and you've got no pipeline.

And here's what happens. Most of the times you're going to be in panic mode because you need to find clients quickly and you're going to take anyone who'll pay you,

even if they're not ideal clients.

You might be accepting lower rates because you know you cash flow and then you get busy again and then you stop marketing again and the cycle repeats.

It is the feast of famine cycle that kills so many businesses.

The hidden cost of this is that you're constantly stressed about money.

You can't make any long term plans because you don't actually know if you'll have income in three months.

Or you make the plans because you know you've got clients right now and you just think that they're going to continue working with you.

And then one day they don't. And then you're in that stress spot again.

And a lot of the time you're going to be taking on clients that you shouldn't because you can't afford to be selective.

And I've seen this more times than I care to admit.

You burn out from the emotional roller coaster. I've seen it so many times with people.

And you know what?

This entire situation is preventable.

If you consistently market at your business,

even just an hour or maybe two hours per week,

you might feel like you don't have that right now.

But don't you want to get out of the feast and famine?

Here's a cost that most business owners actually don't recognize.

Without marketing,

you hit a revenue ceiling that you can't break through.

You can only serve so many clients personally. Let's say you can handle 10 clients at a time and they each pay you $2,000.

That's $20,000 per month maximum.

And that's if you're fully booked every single month, which is unlikely without consistent marketing.

It's a lot to juggle too.

Here's what marketing enables you to do.

With consistent marketing, you build a wait list.

Now you can raise your prices because demand exceeds supply.

Those same clients might now pay $3,000 each,

which means you've just increased your revenue by 50% without actually working more.

With a strong marketing presence, you can launch group programs, courses, memberships,

and that means you can serve 50 people at once instead of 10.

And your revenue per hour of work multiplies.

And also with brand recognition from consistent marketing,

you can negotiate better contracts,

attract higher quality clients,

and actually command premium pricing.

It's not that constant scatter,

rush,

need approach.

Here's the hidden cost.

Without marketing,

you're stuck at your capacity ceiling forever.

You work just as hard as you know someone making three times your revenue, but you're invisible to the opportunities that could actually change everything.

Every day that you're not marketing,

someone else is.

Your competitors or even people with less experience than you.

Businesses that aren't even as good as yours.

But if they're all showing up,

being visible and actually capturing the attention of your ideal customers,

here's what you're losing.

You're going to be losing speaking opportunities.

You know, conference organizers and podcast hosts, they're Google experts in your field.

If you're not showing up in searches or on social media, you're not going to get invited.

And sometimes these opportunities lead to your biggest clients.

Also, partnership opportunities is something that you might be losing.

Other businesses, they want to refer clients to experts they trust.

And if they don't know that you exist because you're not visible,

they're going to be referring to someone else.

You're going to be missing out on media mentions,

journalists looking for expert quotes. Like they go on LinkedIn, they go on Twitter and Google or through X Google. And if you're nowhere to be found,

someone else is going to be that expert and they're going to get the credibility and the exposure with it.

Another one is you're going to miss out on client inquiries,

especially ideal client inquiries.

Your perfect customer is searching for help right now.

And if you're not showing up in their search results or their social feeds, they're going to find someone else.

And it might be someone less qualified, less experienced or less suited to help them,

but they're more visible.

I know marketing is a visibility and a numbers game. It is all about being seen and then trusted and then liked,

liked, trusted. Then someone becomes your client.

So here's the hidden cost you're missing. Opportunities that you don't even know exist.

You'll never know about the, you know, six figure contract that went to someone else because they had an active LinkedIn presence.

You'll never know about the speaking gig that could have led to 20 new clients.

The opportunities that you missed, they're invisible to you,

but they are very, very real.

Also,

when you don't market your business, you have no leverage in negotiations and no options when things go wrong.

So let's, you know, let's look at some scenarios.

The first scenario is a difficult client.

So without marketing, you depend on every single client for your income. So when a client is demanding, or they pay late or they treat you really bad,

Just put up with it because you can't afford to lose them.

With marketing,

you're going to have a pipeline of interested people.

You can set boundaries, you can fire problem clients, and you can actually maintain your standards because you know that more clients are coming.

Scenario number two is an economic downturn.

So without marketing, when the economy tightens and your existing clients cut their budgets,

you kind of got nowhere to go. You're starting from zero, trying to find new clients during the worst possible time.

With marketing, though,

you've been building relationships and you've been building awareness for months or for years.

You have an audience who knows and who trusts you. So you have options.

Even if you, you know, couldn't do the bigger projects. You could then do some group classes at like, a lower price point, but still make that kind of money.

But you have an audience to sell to.

Scenario number three,

Life happens without marketing. If you need to take time off for health issues,

family emergencies, or maybe you're burning out,

your business stops entirely.

No new clients are going to find you.

With marketing, though,

even if you step back for a few weeks,

your content keeps working. Your email list keeps growing. Your inquiries keep coming in the hidden costs.

You're vulnerable.

You have no safety net, no bargaining power, no ability to be selective about who you work with.

You're literally one bad client or one economic shift away from crisis.

Also,

here's something most people don't understand about marketing. It compounds over time.

The earlier you start,

the bigger the advantage.

Think about it like investing.

If you invest a hundred dollars per month starting at the age of 25,

you'll have a lot more at retirement than if you start the same investment at age 45,

even though the later investor might invest more total dollars.

Now marketing works the same way.

One year of consistent marketing means that you build an audience, Even if it's a small audience. You're building an audience.

You get a few inquiries,

kind of some modest results,

and maybe you're wondering if it's worth the effort.

The second year, though,

your year one content is still working,

and now you're adding new content and your audience is bigger and they're getting more engaged, and you're actually starting to get referrals from people who found you through your marketing.

So your results are improving.

Then the third year,

you've now got three years worth of content out there.

Google's ranking, your articles,

your email list is actually substantial now. People are starting to recognize your name.

You get invited to speak.

And clients actually seek you out specifically because they've been following you.

This is where it gets really good.

And then now we're five years on, and now you're seen as an authority.

Opportunities are coming your way.

You can be selective about the clients and the projects that you do.

Your marketing from five years ago is actually still generating leads. It's still there.

It's almost like a you do it once and it disappears.

You're now playing a completely different game than businesses just starting their marketing now.

So the hidden cost of, you know that compound effect every month you delay starting consistent marketing is a month that you lose in compound growth.

The business owner who started marketing their accounting practice three years ago now has 300 pieces of content working for them.

2,000 email subscribers,

strong SEO rankings, and you're starting from zero.

You can't make up that lost time.

Also,

there's a personal cost to not marketing, and it has nothing to do with revenue.

When you don't market your business,

you're hiding your expertise, you're hiding your unique perspective, your ability to help people.

You're basically keeping your gifts to yourself.

And this is what it cost you. It's costing you confidence.

When you don't put yourself out there, you're starting to doubt your own value.

If you're not willing to talk about what you do,

maybe it's not that valuable.

So it's costing you your confidence. It's also costing you growth.

Marketing forces you to articulate what you know,

to refine your thinking and to come up with new ideas. And without it, you're basically stagnant,

like, you know, a musky old swamp.

It's not really doing anything.

It also costing you impact.

There are people that you could help who will never know that you exist.

Problems that you could solve that you know you're going to be unsolved because you're invisible. You're playing small. You're not getting out there.

Another one is fulfillment.

Most people actually start their business to make a difference.

But if no one knows about your business,

your impact is going to be small.

We all need to talk about our businesses, and we all do in some aspects. But a lot of us resist marketing and then some of us just get too busy and then we kind of just drop it all together.

And then another one is legacy. What mark do you want to leave on your industry or your community?

You can't create a legacy from the shadows.

So the hidden cost of hiding is that you end up feeling frustrated and unfulfilled and you're wondering why your business isn't more successful,

but you're unwilling to do the one thing that could change it.

It's being visible and, you know, sharing your expertise consistently.

I know it's scary and we all get busy and that's the busy trap.

But it's really going to cost you a lot.

So let me tell you about what happens when businesses go years without marketing and then suddenly they face a crisis. And trust me,

I've actually worked with local trades businesses that have had this issue.

Firstly, the pandemic scenario.

So businesses that have been literally relying entirely on in person networking and word of mouth,

they had no way to get new clients.

No online presence, no email list, no content demonstrating their expertise.

In the meantime, businesses that had been marketing online, even just a little bit,

they had an audience to sell to,

digital ways to deliver value.

And they're like, they were like out there.

But you could tell which businesses did well and which ones didn't because,

you know,

they've been marketing. Even businesses that couldn't actually do physical stuff like restaurants and stuff,

those that had built an online presence,

they could still sell stuff, they just had to pivot in the way they did it. But they had an audience,

they didn't have to just shut their doors.

Another one is industry disruption.

So if a new competitor enters your market with better funding or maybe more aggressive marketing,

suddenly your word of mouth pipeline dries up because everyone's talking about the new player.

If you've been marketing all along and you have loyalty, you have brand recognition,

you have an established audience,

you'll be fine.

If you haven't,

you can be scrambling to build visibility from zero and you're literally fighting an uphill battle.

Another one is an algorithm change.

If you've been getting most of your clients from like Google searches,

and then Google changes its algorithm and your site drops in rankings and if that's your only source of leads, you're in trouble.

But if you've been diversifying your marketing, like you've been building an email list and having a social presence,

creating content on different platforms,

you actually don't have that issue.

Yes,

Google might still drop your rankings,

but you have other options.

So when a crisis hits businesses without marketing infrastructure, they're in survival mode.

They're going to make desperate decisions and, you know,

accept whatever they can get kind of thing.

But if you have a marketing infrastructure,

you can adapt and a lot of them come out stronger. And this is what we really have seen this during the pandemic.

Those who already had marketing came out stronger. Those who hadn't done anything and were just relying on either foot traffic or any of that kind of stuff,

they disappeared.

So let's be clear about something.

You can't actually not market your business.

You're always marketing, whether you realize it or not.

When potential clients Google your business and they find nothing,

that's marketing.

You're marketing yourself as invisible or irrelevant.

When they look at your outdated website with testimonials from, you know,

2005,

that's marketing.

You're marketing yourself as not very busy or professional.

When they check your LinkedIn and see that you haven't posted in eight months, that's marketing. You're actually marketing yourself as not engaged or active in your field.

When they search for experts in your area and five competitors show up but you don't,

that's marketing.

You're literally marketing yourself right out of consideration.

You think that you're saving time and you know you're avoiding that discomfort by not marketing, but you're actually marketing yourself poorly by default.

You'd actually be better off with intentional strategic marketing that presents you the way you want to be seen rather than marketing yourself out of the consideration.

So let's do some math, and math's not my favorite, trust me.

Let's do some math on what not marketing is actually going to cost you over time.

Let's go with the conservative scenario.

So consistent marketing costs you three hours per week,

and that's conservative.

That's 156 hours per year.

Those 156 hours of marketing might generate two additional clients per month who wouldn't have found you otherwise.

So at $2,000 per client,

that is $48,000 in additional annual revenue.

So your investment is 156 hours and your return is $48,000.

Your hourly value of marketing is $307.

Now let's look at the cost of not marketing.

The first year, you're fine because you have existing clients and you have referrals.

Your lost revenue is $48,000 because you didn't mark it and that was the return.

But you're fine the second year, your referrals are slowing down again. You've lost $48,000 by not marketing the third year,

you're now in feast and famine mode again. You lost $48,000 the fourth year. Now you're stressed and you're considering giving up and getting a job.

Your lost revenue is $48,000 again.

Your fifth year,

you're going to close your business or get a job.

So your total 5 year cost is $240,000 minimum.

Plus the compounding effects,

which are opportunities that you missed. And then also your cost is the stress that you've gone through.

But here's the real kicker.

The business owner who did market consistently. They now have an email list of 5,000 people.

They have 500 pieces of content working for them.

Their SEO is strong.

They've got industry recognition, they have a wait list of clients and they have an ability to launch new offers because they have an existing audience.

Plus they have an asset that they could potentially sell.

Their business is worth a lot more and it generates revenue with less effort.

Your business is fragile and completely dependent on your daily effort.

Now, I know it's a little bit of a downer episode and I'm like, I'm trying to make it not sound as bad, but really I also feel like I have to because otherwise you just don't actually take it into consideration.

Now let's talk about why business owners avoid marketing. Because understanding the why is going to help us address it. And I see it a lot. The first one is people saying, I'm not good at marketing.

What I really hear is I'm afraid I'll do it wrong and then going to look foolish.

That's why people say I'm not good at marketing.

But in reality they're afraid that they'll do it wrong and that, you know, they look foolish.

The next one is I don't have time.

When I hear this,

I just hear I'm prioritizing urgency over importance because it feels safer.

You know, the urgency is the work that they have to do for the clients and they're prioritizing that over the importance of marketing. So it's just that I don't have time.

Another one is I don't want to be salesy. This is probably the one I hear the most together with. I'm not good at marketing.

When I hear I'm not salesy.

Sorry, I don't want to be salesy.

What I hear is I'm uncomfortable with self promotion and I'm worried about what people think.

And that's okay. It's okay. We all have these fears,

but we just have to recognize them for what they are as well.

Another one I sometimes hear is that word of mouth is enough.

And what I hear in that is that people are saying, I'm afraid to be visible on a larger scale.

No, no, no. I just, I'm okay. Word of mouth is okay. They don't want to Be visible on a larger scale.

Or I'll focus on marketing when things slow down.

And really what they're doing is that they're avoiding discomfort by pretending it's a timing issue.

And all of these are fear based decision basically disguised as practical ones. You know, I not good at marketing. I don't have time, I don't want to be salesy. Word of mouth is enough.

I'll focus on it when things slow down.

But really the hidden cost of this is that you build your entire business avoiding discomfort.

Business growth requires stepping out of your comfort zone so you stay small and stressed,

which I don't know. In my opinion, it's more uncomfortable than marketing would ever be. Yes, you might feel uncomfortable marketing yourself,

but the stress is, is that more comfortable? I don't know.

It's a question you have to ask yourself.

So let's get real about what consistent marketing actually requires.

It requires time investment.

You need to spend three to five hours every week to create content and to engage with people.

And really that's less than one client meeting per week,

really.

It also requires a financial investment.

And usually it could be anywhere from like 0 to $200 per month for tools, whether that is scheduling tools or email marketing tools or design tools. We can start for free often.

But once you start growing, it takes an investment.

And then you have, you know, maybe some occasional investments in like learning things or outsourcing specific tasks.

It also takes an emotional investment.

It takes the discomfort of being visible.

It takes vulnerability to share your experiences.

And it takes patience because you're waiting while the results compound. And a lot of people actually give up too early because they feel like it's not working right now.

So they just kind of go back to their own or their old kind of habits.

But they're not yet. They're not waiting for that compound result.

And to push through to discomfort,

it's hard.

It is really hard. This is why there are so many places and people that actually help with this.

This is what I help with inside the marketing momentum membership like to support people with not just the how and the what,

but also being able to do it.

And I support my kids with this kind of thing. They have a discomfort of being visible sometimes.

But you know, it's up to us to be the example, to sometimes, you know,

be the first.

Here's what it returns though.

And these are like, I think it's so worth it. I think learning to either sit with the discomfort or to find a way through the discomfort,

it's worth it because you're going to have a consistent pipeline of people who want to work with you.

You're going to be able to be selective about who you work with.

You've got leverage and negotiations.

It's kind of like insurance against industry changes. Like if something happens again, you can pivot because you have people that already follow you, they like you, they trust you.

It's going to give you options during challenging times. Like if you can't actually do the client work, if that's your business,

and at some point you can't do that, you can pivot that into group program so you don't have to have as many clients.

And, and I've said it multiple times, you get compound growth over time. It's like my favorite word now, compound.

And I don't know, you get a bit more peace of mind knowing that next month revenue is coming,

you know, not that, oh, I've lost a client, now I need to find a new one quickly.

And when you put it that way, not marketing is actually expensive.

So if you've been avoiding marketing or you've been avoiding some parts of marketing and now you're realizing, you know,

the costs,

here's how I would start to avoid some overwhelm because, you know,

gotta start and you don't want to get overwhelmed, so you give up again.

So the first week I would get clarity,

you know, really get clear on who you serve and what the outcome is that you deliver.

Write it down, just plain language, as simple as possible.

Just get clear.

Then the next week,

choose a channel.

Pick one platform where your ideal client spends time and where you are willing to show up.

It has to be a match.

It has to be good for you and has to be good for them.

Then the next week, set up some basics.

So create or optimize your profile.

Start your email list and my favorite platform is Mailerlite. I'll put my affiliate link in the show notes, but I've used it for myself. I've set up lots of other businesses on Mailerlite.

I love it.

Really get that infrastructure in place.

Then the next week start creating.

Post once or twice on, you know, on your chosen platform.

Send one email,

just start. Even if you only have two people on your email list, just start and keep going.

Pretend like you know if it helps, pretend like you're writing to a lot of people or if that is a worry, pretend like you just writing to a small group of people.

So, but send one email, just start.

So then the next month is where you want to build consistency,

commit to a realistic schedule and stick to it.

Focus on showing up,

not on it. Being perfect.

Done is better than perfect.

And that's really the one motto that we have to keep in mind when we get started.

We're not here to be perfect.

And then the next month, you engage and you measure. You start conversations with your audience,

you track what's working and then you can make changes.

You don't need to do everything at once.

You just need to start and stay consistent.

That is the main thing. Starting and staying consistent.

So there you have it. The hidden cost of not marketing your business.

So from the feast or famine cycle to missed opportunities,

from lost leverage to,

you know,

compound grant growth that is not there,

the price of invisibility is a lot higher than the investment in consistent marketing.

Even if it is uncomfortable for you,

not marketing yourself is actually going to harm you and your business in the long term.

So here's your action step.

If you've been avoiding marketing,

pick one small commitment that you can make this week.

Maybe optimize your LinkedIn profile,

maybe post once on social media,

maybe starting that email list that you've been putting off.

Just one small step to break the pattern of avoidance.

And if you're ready to stop hiding and start building a marketing system that actually works for your business,

I've got two things that can help.

Firstly,

make sure that you subscribed to the podcast because every week we break down practical marketing strategies that you can actually implement without the overwhelm or the bs.

So hit subscribe so you don't miss any episodes.

Second, if these episodes gave you that, you know, that kick up the bump that you really needed to finally take marketing seriously,

would you please leave a review?

Share Share what resonated with you or what you're actually committing to change.

It helps other business owners find the show and honestly, it helps me know that this content is making a difference.

And here's a bonus. Take a screenshot of your review and send it to me via email@hello biancamackenzie.com or DM me on Instagram Bianca McKenzie and I'll pop all these links in the show notes and I will send you my Marketing Momentum playbook for free.

It is the exact resource that I use for myself and my clients to build a sustainable marketing system from scratch.

So it's actually perfect if you're ready to stop avoiding and start showing up now. Remember,

you're either investing in marketing now and building an asset that compounds over time,

or you're going to be paying the hidden costs of invisibility.

And those costs only get higher the longer you wait.

The best time to start marketing was three years ago.

The second best time is today.

Thank you so, so much for tuning in to the new School of Marketing podcast. Remember, hiding from marketing is not going to protect you. It just makes you vulnerable.

I'm Bianca McKenzie, and I'll catch you next week.

Until then, keep making marketing work for you.