Marketing is the lifeblood of business for entrepreneurs, as well as for professionals such as lawyers and architects. Yet many say they don’t have time to market their products or services because they’re so busy. Or they contend there’s no need to market themselves because business is so good. “Why should I market now?” they say. “When things slow down and I have more time, then I’ll do some marketing.”

It’s easy to fall into this trap but it could prove hazardous. If you wait until your business or professional practice slows down, you’re likely to become anxious and panicky when you do start your marketing effort. Exhibiting anxiety or, even worse, desperation is devastating to successful marketing. The best time to market is when your business is going great guns, when you’re feeling confident and energized.

There’s no doubt that finding time to market is a dilemma for every entrepreneur and professional. It’s a classic Catch 22: You’re so busy running your business or practice and trying to satisfy your customers that you don’t have time to think about marketing to keep the business pipeline full. But without an infusion of new clients or customers through marketing efforts, the pipeline begins to empty over time. Then you may have ample time to market yourself, but it’s too late because marketing results don’t happen overnight.

The notion that marketing is somehow different and separate from the actual work that people do is a widely held misconception. Marketing does take time, dedication and discipline, but it shouldn’t be a Herculean task you struggle with once a year. Marketing should permeate everything you do in your business or practice. You can reduce the amount of time you need to dedicate specifically to marketing by making sure your entire business is one big marketing machine.

Presenting your image

For example, the various ways in which you regularly present your image to the world your logo, letterhead, announcements, etc. are potentially highly effective marketing tools. Does your logo set you apart from your competition, or is it so plain that it gets lost in the pack? What is the quality of your letterhead, announcement cards and business cards? Does the paper you use for printed materials show that you value quality? Or are you relying on second-rate materials at the same time you’re proclaiming that your operation is first-class? Invest the time needed to get your marketing foundation your logo, marketing materials, marketing plan and so forth in good shape. Once your foundation is where it ought to be, the rest of your marketing efforts will be much easier and more effective.

Building your foundation will take time, and you’ll probably be spending some weekend and evening time on marketing activities. Granted, there are other things you’d rather be doing then, but console yourself in the knowledge that once your foundation is set, it will just need minor tweaking, at least for a while.

Marketing should also be part of all of your office’s normal activities, with each of your employees acting as a member of your marketing team. For example, does your receptionist give the right frontline impression to callers? Don’t forget, there is a good reason why receptionists are often called “Directors of First Impressions.”

What does the reception area itself say about your firm? Is it neat and clean, giving the impression of an efficient operation? Do you lay out current publications about your field of expertise? Do you display your company’s brochures, reprints of articles about your firm, articles you’ve written, issues of your company newsletter, and so on? All can reinforce the idea that your company is highly desirable.

When you do move to carry out a specific marketing program, the cornerstone of your success will be consistency. Carve out a period of time every day, or at least a few days a week, for marketing. Over the long haul, doing a little bit toward attaining your marketing goals each day will add up. Besides, keeping your marketing momentum going is much easier than restarting a marketing campaign over and over.

Maintaining contact

For instance, resolve to make two phone calls a day to maintain contact or reconnect with a referral source or potential customers. Keep a presence in front of your business targets via e-mail, direct mail or phone calls. Otherwise, your potential customers will tend to remember the last person who walked into their office and it likely won’t be you.

Consider the marketing tasks you can delegate. For example, if you’re developing your database, enlist someone else to pull names from your files and enter them into your computer system. Your time will be better spent reviewing and tweaking the list. No one else but you may know, for example, whether a client of yours named Andrew prefers to be called Andy.

It’s important to differentiate between marketing and sales. Marketing is everything you do to roll out the red carpet in front of your prospects.

Marketing means building your firm’s name recognition and generating leads and referrals. There are many areas in marketing for which you can rely on help from others, either your own employees or marketing professionals you hire. Selling, on the other hand, is something only you can do. Selling begins when you are physically in front of prospective clients trying to convince them to buy your products or services.

Taking the time needed to market your business or practice is the best way to guarantee that you’ll have ample opportunities to sell your products or services. You may think you can’t afford to take the time to market but the truth is, you can’t afford not to.

Sharon Berman is principal of Berbay Corp., a marketing consultancy firm. She can be reached at [email protected].

Entrepreneur’s Notebook is a regular column contributed by EC2, The Annenberg Incubator Project, a center for multimedia and electronic communications at the University of Southern California. Contact James Klein at (213) 743-1759 with feedback and topic suggestions.