Have you ever ridden the revenue roller coaster?

For a short period of time, you’re busy beyond belief. Then, suddenly, there’s nothing.

Then, you’re busy again, with a lot of revenue coming in. Then, it dies off.

This is the revenue roller coaster.

Some business owners mistakenly belief that this is “just the way it is”. There is a belief pervasive in some industries and professions that their business is supposed to be cyclical. It’s an extremely common sentiment in fields like graphic design, web design, contract programming, hospitality, accounting, and many more.

With rare exception, however, it’s a false belief.

If you run a pop-up retail Halloween store, then it’s true. Or if you own a restaurant on a remote island to which the ferry or air service only runs half the year, then it’s true.

But aside from these extreme examples, it’s an utterly false belief.

Take the accounting industry, for example. Big firms already know this is false, and they know how to fix it. But for some weird reason, smaller firms, especially solo practitioners, don’t get this. Many of them think that tax filing season is the only really busy time of the year, and never both trying to figure out how to increase revenue the rest of the year, even though it’s pretty easy. If you’re an accountant reading this, by the way, there are a myriad of revenue opportunities the rest of the year, such as income tax planning, taxpayer representation, expense reduction consulting, advisory, and much more.

No matter what industry you’re in, no matter what target market you’re serving, there is always something that you can be offering them. The key to making that happen is to always be marketing.

Small shops, freelancers, and solo practitioners — which represent about 75% of all US businesses — are particularly guilty of this. They run marketing for a while to get new customers, then they turn it off so they can service those customers. Then when that well runs dry, they have to spin up marketing again.

Now, if you want to run your business like that, great. Go for it. Perhaps you’re semi-retired, or make enough during your traditional “busy season” that you just want to cruise for the rest of the year. That’s totally OK. But make it a choice.

For everybody else, consistent marketing is what breaks the boom/bust cycles of revenue. Consistent marketing is what eliminates the revenue roller coaster.

If you're always doing some lead generation marketing, you'll always be filling the top of your funnel and building out your pipeline of future business. This is particularly true with project-based services, seasonal merchandise, or destination attractions.

In my next book, I’ll be discussing the four core marketing strategies that you should have running 24/7/365 in your business. These foundational strategies are the bedrock of your overall marketing plan. They are:

Client retention & upsell strategy.
Referral generation strategy.
Lead follow up strategy.
Cold lead generation strategy.

This list might look overwhelming if you pause to contemplate them. However, the vast majority of the actions run on autopilot, thanks to the wonders of modern technology. The cost of operating all four in parallel is also significantly lower than it ever has been in history.

If you want to get off the boom and bust cycle of revenue that many businesses experience, the key is simply to have consistency in your market at each stage of the sales funnel. Do that, and the revenue roller coaster becomes more like a long, straight highway steadily gaining in elevation.

Action Items

Reactivate any successful marketing campaigns you currently have on pause, even if at reduced ad spend or frequency.
Evaluate your current marketing plan to ensure you have all four core marketing strategies in action.
If currently lacking any of the four core marketing strategies, take stock of what resources you have available and need to acquire in order to implement all four of them at least at a basic level.

Bizorca Press

Constant Marketing Eliminates the Revenue…